There’s no denying that staff costs are one of the highest expenses for a business and indeed finding new staff members can cost a company 50% to 200% of the cost of the annual wage. So it’s no surprise then that it is a great idea to keep good staff. In fact it is something that businesses should be actively paying attention to!
Last Christmas I had just the same idea on my mind (Christmas is a fantastic time to show our staff how much we appreciate them!), see our post about How to show your staff you value them. But it is not just about ideas to reward staff – companies need to be aware of the mistakes they are making that cost them their good staff!
Here are my top 5 ways to lose your best employees:
- Lack of personalisation: Probably the worst mistake a company can make is to create rigid bureaucracy. There’s no argument that systems and processes are paramount for a company. Measurement, growth and improvement is all made possible through implementing systems and processes, BUT the big problem is that systems and processes should be for function and therefore can’t always be applied to people. Remember that people need to be treated as individuals. Respect processes, but don’t expect people to be treated like a number.
- Lack of challenge: the one thing I notice again and again with top talent, they thrive on being part of something huge! One thing many companies lack is the ability to find out what drives their top talent and then ensure they are offering these challenges! Find out what your best employees are passionate about and find a way to include those passions in their job functions/roles.
- Lack of communication: it does surprise me how poorly some companies perform at communicating with staff, meetings become long and boring and lose touch with their meaning, annual reviews are considered to time consuming to interfere with the running of the business. Managers actually need to schedule time with their people, not to just fill in an HR form – but spend time discussing work, output/results and personal satisfaction, remember employees are people who need to be treated as individuals (see point 1 above!)
- Lack of vision: there are 2 elements to lack of vision, employees need to have a global vision for the company and it’s goals and they also need a local vision for their own progression and contribution to the overall scheme. Make sure that you are firm in your company vision and are able to communicate this and also make sure that your staff members know how you see them contributing towards this (and see point 3 above – don’t forget to ask HOW they want to contribute!)
- Poor management: In my honest opinion, this is one of the BIGGEST mistakes companies make. Many managers may be fantastic sales people, or top accountants, or fantastic operationally – but that doesn’t mean they should be managing people! Great managers inspire, they provide focus and goals and should assist their staff to achieve. Poor managers tell people HOW to do their jobs, they show lack of trust in an individuals innate talents, lack of vision and communication and indeed allow poison to flow in a team. Fear is not a motivator for great talent. Trust and respect are required to build a good team and a manager who encourages individuals to shine, to be responsible and to excel is the perfect manager for top talent!
If you want to attract and retain great employees, you need to make sure that you don’t fall into making the above mistakes. If your staff turnover is less than satisfactory, time to check the above list and make improvements, so that you can keep the top talent you have! The snowball effect is that you are then considered a top employer and great talent will come looking for you!
