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HR Managers today must provide an attractive and motivating environment to their employees than just a handsome salary in order to retain them. Employees these days hop jobs for a mere10-15 per cent pay hike!
Organisations that succeed to attract, retain and motivate employees, emerge as winners. It doesn’t take much to have a motivated workforce; all you need to do is create an exciting environment. Three things to motivate & retain employees are…
• Positive work environment.
• Rewards for proper conduct.
• Employee involvement.
How to create a positive work environment?
Explain to them ‘The Big Picture’ to give them the sense of pride and purpose for working with the company. Give your employees a chance to put forward their views in decision making (whenever required and possible).
Their suggestions are important. Give them resources to support them and to ensure they perform better. Cater to their growth needs and give them a mentor for improving and developing new skills.
Rewards for proper conduct - Praise & Recognition
No money in the world can replace a compliment. Sure, it does attract talent through the front door, but it never prevents them from leaving through the back door. Two most important elements for employee retention are praise and recognition. Monetary rewards are fast forgotten, try something that will stay forever. For instance;
A retail store came out with “My Shinning Star” peer recognition programme. Every month employees were rewarded for their outstanding conduct & qualities like taking beyond duty calls, perfect attendance, hard work, team work, friendly & caring nature etc.
Employees had the power to reward their peers for doing a good job. An employee who received the highest number of votes in a month received a special gift from the store manager along with his name being put up on the bulletin board.
This is what is called a FAST-FUN formula…
• Focus on the behaviour to be rewarded.
• Avoid bureaucratic committees.
• Simplicity
• Team ownership.
• FUN, entertaining and spontaneous..
Involve your Employees
Employee involvement plays at all levels from self-esteem, motivation to retention. A feeling of belongingness and worth will attach the employee with the organisation and its affect will be higher than that of a hefty salary. Find a way to tell your employees that they are special to the organisation. Whichever way you take it, keep in mind these key factors. Your employees will enjoy their work, feel that they have a purpose and therefore will be able to reach their potential.
Organisations that succeed to attract, retain and motivate employees, emerge as winners. It doesn’t take much to have a motivated workforce; all you need to do is create an exciting environment. Three things to motivate & retain employees are…
• Positive work environment.
• Rewards for proper conduct.
• Employee involvement.
How to create a positive work environment?
Explain to them ‘The Big Picture’ to give them the sense of pride and purpose for working with the company. Give your employees a chance to put forward their views in decision making (whenever required and possible).
Their suggestions are important. Give them resources to support them and to ensure they perform better. Cater to their growth needs and give them a mentor for improving and developing new skills.
Rewards for proper conduct - Praise & Recognition
No money in the world can replace a compliment. Sure, it does attract talent through the front door, but it never prevents them from leaving through the back door. Two most important elements for employee retention are praise and recognition. Monetary rewards are fast forgotten, try something that will stay forever. For instance;
A retail store came out with “My Shinning Star” peer recognition programme. Every month employees were rewarded for their outstanding conduct & qualities like taking beyond duty calls, perfect attendance, hard work, team work, friendly & caring nature etc.
Employees had the power to reward their peers for doing a good job. An employee who received the highest number of votes in a month received a special gift from the store manager along with his name being put up on the bulletin board.
This is what is called a FAST-FUN formula…
• Focus on the behaviour to be rewarded.
• Avoid bureaucratic committees.
• Simplicity
• Team ownership.
• FUN, entertaining and spontaneous..
Involve your Employees
Employee involvement plays at all levels from self-esteem, motivation to retention. A feeling of belongingness and worth will attach the employee with the organisation and its affect will be higher than that of a hefty salary. Find a way to tell your employees that they are special to the organisation. Whichever way you take it, keep in mind these key factors. Your employees will enjoy their work, feel that they have a purpose and therefore will be able to reach their potential.
CATCH THIS.....................AND DO TELL ME HOW IS THIS.............
FIVE WAYS TO RETAIN OUR EMPLOYEES
WITHOUT SPENDING A SINGLE PENNY
Good employees are hard to find, and even harder to replace. How can we keep good employees around when they could be making more money or working an easier schedule elsewhere? Not long ago, we sought to answer that question. Our office manager polled our employees to see what they liked about working in our practice and what kept them here. The most highly rated items weren't decent wages or perks. Instead, the most common responses fell into these categories:
• Positive, caring relationships:
• Recognition of achievement:
• Pride in the organization:
• Opportunities for growth and advancement
1. Talk to your employees. I may go a week and hardly speak to my Store Walla. They could care less, but with employees such behavior is a real mistake. When we see them, address them by name. It's fairly easy to visit with your medical assistant or nurse, but go out of your way to say "hi" to your front-office employees and your business staff. Meet with new employees briefly and find out a little about them. In addition, make sure that office manager is readily available to talk to staff, particularly when they have an issue or new ideas.
2. Recognize good work. When a day runs smoothly, tell your receptionist what a good job they have done - and mean it. When collections are going well, let the billing staff know that you appreciate it. In a bigger office, consider awarding an Employee of the Month, nominated by peers and announced to all employees. Any award will be greatly enhanced if the time to deliver it face-to-face.
3. Get personal. Know when your employees have special events in their lives - good or bad - and discuss it with them. For example, we celebrate staff birthdays and anniversaries of employment, which is a big deal for our employees.
4. Help them succeed. To do well in their jobs, employees need an accurate job description and an annual review that lets them know how they are performing and what they can do to improve. They also need access to an employee handbook so they can understand the expectations of the organization. We should Provide employees with these tools, and as they show signs of readiness, be willing to entrust them with new tasks and greater responsibility.
5. Keep them in the loop. When good or bad things happen to an employee outside the office, be certain to let staff know promptly. Don't drift past them in the office and let them find out some other way. By keeping staff informed, you communicate that you think they are a valuable part of the team and important to patients. In return, most employees will go the extra mile for us over and over again.
What they have in common is that they cost very little, yet can make a good job a great one - one that employees will stick with even if other options arise.
From India, Delhi
FIVE WAYS TO RETAIN OUR EMPLOYEES
WITHOUT SPENDING A SINGLE PENNY
Good employees are hard to find, and even harder to replace. How can we keep good employees around when they could be making more money or working an easier schedule elsewhere? Not long ago, we sought to answer that question. Our office manager polled our employees to see what they liked about working in our practice and what kept them here. The most highly rated items weren't decent wages or perks. Instead, the most common responses fell into these categories:
• Positive, caring relationships:
• Recognition of achievement:
• Pride in the organization:
• Opportunities for growth and advancement
1. Talk to your employees. I may go a week and hardly speak to my Store Walla. They could care less, but with employees such behavior is a real mistake. When we see them, address them by name. It's fairly easy to visit with your medical assistant or nurse, but go out of your way to say "hi" to your front-office employees and your business staff. Meet with new employees briefly and find out a little about them. In addition, make sure that office manager is readily available to talk to staff, particularly when they have an issue or new ideas.
2. Recognize good work. When a day runs smoothly, tell your receptionist what a good job they have done - and mean it. When collections are going well, let the billing staff know that you appreciate it. In a bigger office, consider awarding an Employee of the Month, nominated by peers and announced to all employees. Any award will be greatly enhanced if the time to deliver it face-to-face.
3. Get personal. Know when your employees have special events in their lives - good or bad - and discuss it with them. For example, we celebrate staff birthdays and anniversaries of employment, which is a big deal for our employees.
4. Help them succeed. To do well in their jobs, employees need an accurate job description and an annual review that lets them know how they are performing and what they can do to improve. They also need access to an employee handbook so they can understand the expectations of the organization. We should Provide employees with these tools, and as they show signs of readiness, be willing to entrust them with new tasks and greater responsibility.
5. Keep them in the loop. When good or bad things happen to an employee outside the office, be certain to let staff know promptly. Don't drift past them in the office and let them find out some other way. By keeping staff informed, you communicate that you think they are a valuable part of the team and important to patients. In return, most employees will go the extra mile for us over and over again.
What they have in common is that they cost very little, yet can make a good job a great one - one that employees will stick with even if other options arise.
From India, Delhi
Dear Amit,
Your suggestions are really nice and will surely work out.But, if it is a newly formed IT company then I don't think that your plans are practical enough, I am not saying that it is just a theory. But somewhere it fails in IT sectors.
I think succession plan is always better than a retention plan specially when I am talking on IT sectors.amit, whats your view in this. I am not saying that i am right 100% but its what I had felt in last 7 years.
To retain the old talent is always important no doubt. but, sometimes it never works.The person or talent you will retain may take his job lightly and may behave abnormally thinking himself/herself as indispensable for the company. So an organization can be successful if it has good succession plan rather than retention plan.
My another view: Do not celebrate or do not glorify individual team members success, the moment you will start glorifying and celebrating the individuals achievement it will be the disaster for the company no doubt at all.
In my view succession plan will ALSO work out .
Thanks
Dev
From India, Gurgaon
Your suggestions are really nice and will surely work out.But, if it is a newly formed IT company then I don't think that your plans are practical enough, I am not saying that it is just a theory. But somewhere it fails in IT sectors.
I think succession plan is always better than a retention plan specially when I am talking on IT sectors.amit, whats your view in this. I am not saying that i am right 100% but its what I had felt in last 7 years.
To retain the old talent is always important no doubt. but, sometimes it never works.The person or talent you will retain may take his job lightly and may behave abnormally thinking himself/herself as indispensable for the company. So an organization can be successful if it has good succession plan rather than retention plan.
My another view: Do not celebrate or do not glorify individual team members success, the moment you will start glorifying and celebrating the individuals achievement it will be the disaster for the company no doubt at all.
In my view succession plan will ALSO work out .
Thanks
Dev
From India, Gurgaon
Hi Amit,
Just wanted to appreciate your reply for retention strategies..
Better late than never....I found it your article a little latter....but i must say it is highly informative and really helpful for HR aspirants like me....
Thank you, please keep sharing your knowledge!!
Regards,
Kiran
From India, New Delhi
Just wanted to appreciate your reply for retention strategies..
Better late than never....I found it your article a little latter....but i must say it is highly informative and really helpful for HR aspirants like me....
Thank you, please keep sharing your knowledge!!
Regards,
Kiran
From India, New Delhi
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