What Keeps Employees Around Besides a Paycheck
Any manager will tell you that it is often challenging to hang on to the best employees. Many managers believe that pay, office perks, and benefits are what keep employees happy so that they do not look elsewhere for work. While those elements are certainly the largest part of the picture, managers may need to find other ways to retain employees in this economy when budgets are tight. Here is what the experts want you to know about how to improve employee retention amidst a floundering economy.
Understand the Signs of Disengaged Employees
Savvy managers learn how to recognize the signs of a disengaged employee so that they can take steps to correct this. Jaclyn Mayes-Avíla, an HR director, says that managers should be wary when employees stop offering feedback or initiating conversations. “I think the biggest thing is people stop talking, they stop providing feedback, because they feel like what's the point?” she says.
It is not unusual for an employee to become quieter when they feel as if their feedback is not valued. Even if an employee is still performing their duties at high levels, they may ascertain that their feedback will not result in meaningful change.
Other signs that an employee is disengaged include poor attendance, punctuality issues, and personality changes. While it is easy to assume that an employee is not happy with their job if these signs present themselves, it could be something that they are dealing with in their personal life.
Scheduling regular one-on-one sessions between managers and their staff gives the worker a chance to be heard. Mayes-Avíla suggests using these meetings to ask questions such as “give me two things that you enjoy about your job” and “tell me what you feel is a challenge for your job.”
How to Boost Employee Retention
Although raises and bonuses can go a long way in employee satisfaction, these are not the only ways to boost employee retention. In addition to the monetary rewards, managers should also focus on building respect within the office space. This means that staff should be treated like individual people rather than just a number.
Employers aiming to retain top talent should also be intentional about giving their workers autonomy. This means empowering every person on the team to make decisions and be in charge of various aspects of the job.
Lastly, most employees are seeking stability in the workplace. This is particularly true in today's volatile economy and affordability crisis. Doing whatever it takes to make employees feel as if they are part of a stable work environment will naturally boost morale and discourage them from looking elsewhere for work.
How to Make Staff Feel Valued and Supported
Making workers feel valued and supported starts with soliciting their feedback. However, managers need to show they are following through with this input. The fastest way to make employees feel as if their opinions do not matter is to ask for feedback but then ignore it. Even if a manager cannot address every bit of feedback, they can communicate what they plan to do with the input and when.
HR experts also caution managers to be careful to not lean on feel-good slogans as a form of motivation. While this may work the first few times, employees eventually start to see through the chatter.
Good managers make it a point to talk to their staff outside of just criticism. You do not want your staff to think that they only hear from the manager when something is wrong. Being intentional about engaging employees in positive conversations will help to prevent staff from viewing leadership in only a negative light.
The bottom line is that there are endless ways to motivate employees and keep them happy without having to throw more money at them. Mayes-Avíla advises managers to offer their staff clarity and predictability for the best results.
“Most of the time employees have a hard time understanding the why, and so the information that managers and leaders can share they should share,” she says. She adds that “clarity goes a long way" when hoping to create consistent communication expectations that will inherently improve employee engagement and the resulting engagement.
Managers cannot control the economy or the job market, but they can take active steps to ensure that their staff is happy with the intangibles of the job.
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