And it’s not personal, either. There’s just been a paradigm shift from company loyalty to personal development, with employees now placing a higher emphasis on advancing their own careers as opposed to just merrily climbing the corporate ladder laid out by the company they happen to work for right now.
What this means for HR is that a much higher emphasis must be placed on staff retention, or we risk losing our key talent in whom we have likely invested much time, money and resources.
So what make a company attractive to new and existing talent?
While there are a number of factors that play a role in what employees and prospective employees think about a company, there are three aspects that simply cannot be ignored. In other words, if you’re going to make an effort to retain your existing employees and create an environment that attracts new talent, this is what you should focus on:
1. Top Quality Leadership
The quality of your supervisors, managers, and leaders - while not the only factor determining whether employees will stay with your company - still has a huge impact on how happy and satisfied your employees are.
Employees are happiest when working for managers who:
• Have exceptional communication skills
• Have the ability to recognise when staff should be challenged
• Frequently provide positive feedback (encouragement)
• Frequently provide constructive feedback
• Give employees the freedom and flexibility to do their best work
2. Developmental Opportunities
Providing employees with the opportunity to better themselves is arguably the most important thing you can do to improve staff retention. Employees in today’s world are focussed on being the best they can be, and if you don’t facilitate that growth, they’ll quickly move to a company that will.
Companies can show staff that they are invested in their individual development by:
• Creating personalised development plans which take into account the employee’s own career goals and aspirations
• Investing in employees through developmental training courses and workshops
• Developing performance management systems that are both formal and informal, with the informal part taking the form of regular feedback sessions and chats
• Expanding the job specification of employees through job sharing activities and coaching and mentoring programmes
3. Flexibility
Another change we are seeing in the business environment is the need for flexibility in order to retain employees and keep them motivated and engaged. What this essentially means is that today’s employee doesn’t want to be tied to her desk, nor does she want to be ruled by the clock.
With advances in technology most of us are now able, providing we have a reliable internet connection, to work remotely. In addition to this, creativity doesn’t stick to the regular 9 to 5 like we do and for those employees who only really come alive after mid-morning; we’re wasting their talents by forcing them to conform to the “normâ€.
However, flexibility doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. Flexibility can be as simple as making better use of your premises - allowing and encouraging employees to make full use of the space you’ve provided (working outside, for instance, away from the normal distractions of the office and with a lovely view, is something of which I’m a huge fan).
Companies can embrace a more flexible approach by:
• Providing employees with the opportunity to work from home where possible
• Adopting a more flexible system than the rigid 9 to 5 with regards to working times
• Encouraging employees to make use of the office, garden, lounge etc. more effectively and creatively
Staff Training is a soft skills training company with more than 60 short courses on offer. Visit our HR Resource Centre to download a number of free HR Tools, including various Training Needs Analyses, Tracking documents, and the Definitive SDF Guide. Contact us at (021) 839 3021 or drop us an email.