Dear Dan: Finding and keeping good employees has never been easy for our business, and it seems to be getting more difficult all the time. Is it possible for a small business to keep good employees without breaking the bank?
– Retentionless
Dear Retentionless: Today’s job market is highly competitive, and employee loyalty is down. Businesses big and small are struggling to attract and retain good employees. But while big companies have lately focused on grabbing more college grads right out of school and offering increasingly rich benefits, small businesses have generally refused to overextend themselves in an effort to recruit and retain employees.
The latest surveys of small business employment and retention practices show that business owners prefer to focus their efforts on training and professional development rather than flashier benefits.
For example, a small-business survey just completed by Employco, a professional employer organization, found 21 percent of respondents are expanding training and development this year in an effort to increase employee retention, while only 3 percent offer telecommuting, 4 percent offer flex time, and 1 percent offer wellness programs.
The survey also found that while small companies tend to be more financially flexible than large ones, the signing bonus as a recruiting tool is nearly dead. Only one percent of small businesses say they offer signing bonuses to new employees.
So what are some things you can do to shore up your retention efforts? Employee retention experts Don and Sheryl Grimme offer these tips:
1. Pay well, and fairly – and then get employees to forget about money.
2. Praise attempts as well as accomplishments both large and small at least four times more than you criticize. And never criticize publicly.
3. Reward outstanding performance with promotions and opportunities.
4. Clearly communicate goals, responsibilities and expectations.
5. Involve employees in key plans and decisions – especially those that affect them – and solicit their ideas and opinions.
6. Create training opportunities for employees to learn and grow, and actively listen to their concerns.
Want more resources? Visit EmployeeUniversity.com, Employee Retention Headquarters (www.employee-retention-hq.com) , AwardsNetwork.com, HighRetention.com, TheRainmakerGroupInc.com, HermanGroup.com, LoyaltyWorks.com, and Rhino Employee Benefits (www.rhinoeb.com).
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@business.com.
