Employees are your valuable assets and it is in the interest of your business to retain and keep them happy. Retaining top-performing employees is one of the best competitive advantages your business can build. So, how do you figure out if your employees are happy working in your company?
We spoke to a few advisors to understand how they retain their employees.
Offer good benefit package
While rewards and recognition is like the turbo fuel that drives your employees, offering competitive salaries and incentives is what will keep them from exploring outside. “Every organisation needs skilled employees. We should reward them with competitive salaries and incentives to retain them,” advises Hemant Rustagi of Wiseinvest Advisors.
Apart from monetary incentives, benefits like health insurance, life insurance, and a retirement saving plan will help you create a safety net for your employees.
Depending on your business requirements, offer flexible working hours and work from home options to create a congenial environment and promote a healthy work-life balance.
Training
Continuous training helps the team to stay on top of their game, be it through industry conference, workshops to brush up on financial concepts or by simply learning a new skill. All this eventually benefits the organization as your employees perceive you to be involved in their overall growth. Education is important for the growth of any individual. You should constantly inspire your employees to learn new things. Yogin Sabnis of VSK Financial Consultancy is one such advisor who constantly encourages his employees to develop new skills and expertise.
Define clear goals
For employees to deliver, they need to understand their roles clearly. Once your employees understand their role they tend to develop a strong sense of their position in the company.
And as we say in our industry where unless you have a financial goal, no financial plan can help you reach there; similarly a crisp role will help you achieve those objectives easily. Write clear job descriptions and goals so that you can do a meaningful performance evaluation
Promotion
Employees aspire to grow in your company and are constantly looking at opportunities to expand their roles. By providing them a clear career path you can reduce the attrition rate. Organically grown companies are also known to have happier employees as there is loyalty among the staff (you also do away with the recruitment and training costs) “Motivate top-performers by promoting and giving them new challenges. For instance, promote your paraplanner to a financial planner. This will boost his/her morale and also benefit your company,” says Lovaii Navlakhi of International Money Matters.
Recognize performers
Sometimes your employees may not get public recognition for their contribution. In such cases, a simple ‘thank you’ can work wonders. A survey conducted by Office Team, a US based human resource company reveals that more than 50 percent of workers would be very likely or somewhat likely to leave their current position if they didn’t feel appreciated by their seniors. Praise your employees, either through a verbal thank you or by giving any non-financial rewards.
Next time your employee does a job well, write them a small thank you note and trust me they will cherish it for a very long time.
Boost morale in tough market conditions
Businesses get killed by inside force more than they do due to external forces (read markets). Each business will go through its tough times but in such cases it is employee faith that can keep you afloat. As an employer you will have to instill faith in your staff and keep them motivated to give in their best. For instance, show them some case studies about companies which made it big after surviving in tough times.
Besides, Lovaii advises that you should refrain from giving huge hikes during tough times which can create unrealistic expectations among employees. “We follow a policy of ‘smoothened salary increases’ – no huge hikes during good times – which allows us to maintain decent hikes during tough market conditions. Most importantly, we give them work they enjoy and responsibilities more than they think they can handle; and most often, that works like a dream,” adds Lovaii.
Promote a positive environment
Encouraging teamwork and cooperation, rather than competition, will help you create a healthy work environment. “It is important to remember that money is not the only reason employees leave. You need to have a good working environment where your team is comfortable. You need to have proper infrastructure and the work should be challenging enough to help employees gain knowledge and experience,” adds Yogin.
Lovaii advises to take continuous feedback from employees which will help you frame the right policies for employees. “We treat our employees as clients – with honesty. We take feedback regularly on various activities, trainings and events and also on an annual basis, as a standard practice. What is more vital is that we act on that feedback,” he adds.
To sum up, creating a positive environment, encouraging constructive feedback from employees, offering competitive salary and recognizing and motivating your employees will go a long way in building a great team which remains with you for a long time.
