Improve Employee Retention

Each day new businesses are opening their doors for the first time.  At the same time, businesses that have already opened their doors are closing.  The successes of those new businesses depend on many elements but one element above all is gaining and keeping human capital.  This same element was important to those companies that have now shut their doors.  Perhaps, those companies didn’t know that human capital is was makes a business succeed or fail.  Or, perhaps, they didn’t realize that retaining great employees was more important than gaining them.

Retaining excellent employees is the cornerstone of any smart business.  Businesses that excel over their competitors, thrive, and succeed are those that realize that their best employees not only care about the company as much as the owners but realize that these employees know as much as those higher up the ladder.  These employees are the proverbial “meat and potatoes” of an organization – they run, expand, and guide the company to success.  Companies that realize this make it a point to retain their employees; their human capital; their success.

Employee Selection

Before you can try to retain employees you have to select the right employees.  Your first step in this process is to ensure your job description is not only thorough and descriptive, but accurate.  All too often job descriptions grab the attention of those who are not right for the job.  This is not because they are applying for the wrong job or position, but because the job description wasn’t accurate to begin with.  Next, take the time to test applicants with psychometrics. Psychometric tests aim to measure attributes like intelligence, aptitude and personality which can be used in recruitment as well as with current employees. These tests are highly valuable for selecting employees to gain business success.

Train, Train, Train

Perhaps no other act shows an employee that you value them as a member to your organization than offering them training.  Employee training tells the employees that you find them valuable enough to spend resources on their growth and that the team you currently have is desired and useful.  Employees stay with organizations that offer training because it increases their personal and professional growth.  When employees feel good about themselves and when companies provide the stage for such feelings, employee retention isn’t as difficult as an organization may believe.  Furthermore, with the use of psychometric testing you will be able to determine what kind and how training should be done since you will have a good internal portrait of your employees.  The use of the psychometric test will help you better use your resources and build a better company.

Importance of a Good Management Team

Let’s acknowledge that employees leave management and not companies.  Thus, having effective management is crucial to the success of an organization.  It would not be wrong to associate good management with higher rates of employee retention. 

We are talking about employees that are qualified to assume the role of a leader and duties of a manager, not those who are simply well liked. Personality assessments and Instruments like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) are designed and developed to assist in determining how one will not only perform as a leader but how one may align themselves with the company’s core values and vision.  This is key because you want your managers to spread the values of your company and you want them to be able to cope well with things may be running amuck, MBTI will help in assessing what employee will perform best as your next manager.

Remember, the use of psychometrics will help you in determining who to hire, how to best train, and who to promote.  When such testing is employed to the betterment of any organization its ability to retain employees at a rate that other companies would envy. 

Other tips and tricks: 

• Offer competitive wages and benefits
• Realize that how employees work today is different than the past.  Question if teleworking or flexi-time is a beneficial option
• Offer paying for university level education and other training
• Create an atmosphere and company culture that promotes valuing one another
• Celebrate the small wins with everyone – leave no one out for every position matters
• Remember, employees are people too.