How To Keep Your Best Employees Loyal And Committed

Do you love the work that your employee does, but worry that he or she might take their expertise elsewhere? Having to train a new hire is time-consuming and can be costly. Both time and money are resources that are typically in short supply during a startup and small business’ first years. While you might be working up to offering your own 401K benefits for employees, you can still do a lot to keep employees loyal.

Today’s millennial workforce appears to be less committed to sticking to one place of work. What does understanding what millennials look for in a workplace provide? It is estimated that 3 of 4 workers worldwide will be millennials within the next 20 years. Knowing what will appeal to millennials—as well as Baby Boomers—will help you create a business that will keep your employees challenged and doing their best work.

Offer A Health Plan

With the turmoil over the Affordable Care Act in the past few years, people are still concerned about health insurance plans. Many people don’t even know if Obama Care still exists. Health insurance is a big factor for many employees, especially if they have a family to support. Therefore, it’s imperative that you do some research on your own or find a lawyer to advise you on health insurance requirements. Providing a health insurance plan that employees can take part in will give your employees an added reason to stick around.

Be Flexible

It is now possible to do much of one’s work online. And with this new reality, the number of employees desiring flexibility in where they work from has reached peak numbers. The recent trend in culture is to create a sustainable balance between work and one’s personal life. This desire for a balance between these two pillars has 6 million Americans choosing part-time work over full-time work.

Various studies have been conducted in recent years concerning ideal workplace conditions. Researchers have found that employees are happier and less prone to workplace stress when they had a flexible work schedule. What does providing a flexible schedule look like for a boss or a manager? Here are the essentials:

  • Allow for some work hours or days to be done via telecommuting.
  • Place a priority on results vs. hours worked and structure pay accordingly.
  • Create a plan that allows workers to take a leave of absence, whether for travel or important life events, etc.

Provide Opportunities For Advancement

Workplace engagement or lack of employee management has been the focus of many surveys in recent years. Keeping your employees engaged in tasks is one way that businesses can boost employee productivity. But engagement is rarely created in a vacuum. As a business owner or manager, you can ignite employee engagement and help them feel challenged. The brightest of your employees are likely goal-oriented creatures. They probably have an idea of where they want to be 5 years from now. Find a way to provide a ladder they can climb within your business. And tell them about it.

If your employee sees no clear path for upwards advancement, he or she has less reason to stay. If you have opportunities for advancement, make sure your best employees know about them. If you do not have advancement opportunities yet, create them. Doing so might be the key to not only keeping your best and brightest, but also pushing your business to the next level.

Have Clear Business Goals

You might have the best business plan in the world, but if your employees are not clued in, you could risk losing them. Articulating your business goals to your employees should not be a one-time occurrence. Do not be afraid of repeating yourself when it comes to where you want your business to head and what you expect of your team. Of course, avoid coming across as overbearing. But as the leader of your business, your team looks to you to have a plan. Your employees rely on you to course correct their work as the days proceed.

A workplace that has unclear expectations of work performance and business goals is a workplace that will lose employees. Make sure your employees know what you expect of them. Do this by providing clear feedback both when a good job is done and when sub-par work was performed. This also gives your employees a clear idea of when to ask for a promotion or when to keep working on their current sent of job responsibilities.

Recognize Good Work

We all like to be recognized when we turn in good work. In a study conducted, it was found that recognition of good work increased work performance the next day. The cause and effect is easy to see here.  But what happens when there is no recognition? Your best employees might begin to look elsewhere for a better work environment, one where they will feel appreciated.

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