Turnover of your employees can be difficult to stop completely. However, success can be measured by degrees. After all, retaining 90% of your employees is certainly better than retaining 50% of them.
We’ve discussed the subject of retention before in this blog, specifically with the post, “One Simple Step for Improving Retention of Your Best Employees.” That one simple step was recognizing those employees for their value and achievements.
However, there’s something else you can do that will also help retain them. That something is based on two simple truths:
- You should know your employees’ career goals and ambitions, especially those employees who you value the most and who contribute the most to the organization.
- Since you know your employees’ career goals and ambitions, you should take a proactive approach in helping them to achieve those goals.
The reasons for these truths is this: People leave their employers because they believe those employers do not care about their careers. Or perhaps it would be better to frame this statement in another way:
People leave their employers because of the perception that those employers do not care about their careers.
Here’s why it’s important for you to be proactive in tackling this issue. After all, employees may not walk into your office and start talking about their long-term career goals with you. One of the reasons for this is that they don’t know how you would react to such a thing.
So what should an employer do? What’s the appropriate plan of action? Below is a three-step plan:
#1—Meet individually with the members of your team.
Yes, this is time-consuming, but it’s also necessary if you want to decrease the chances that one of your team members is going to leave. Start with your most valuable team members. First, broach the subject and get them to open up. Then, once they have, brainstorm ways that the company can help them to achieve their career goals.
#2—Put together a plan of action.
Your brainstorming session should lead to a concrete plan by which steps can be identified. Don’t be vague or general. Talking in terms of specifics will convey to the employee that you’re serious about the plan and about their career.
#3—Carry out that plan with the employee.
While you might be wondering where are you going to find the time to do this, think about where you would be without your top one or two employees. This is an investment not only in them, but also in the future of the organization. Giving your time and attention will make them feel more wanted, which will convince them to stay with your organization.
With this plan and exercise, what you’re doing is cultivating loyalty with your employees. When you’re able to do that, then those employees are much less likely to leave. When it comes to their career, what you really want is for your top performers—your true superstars—to spend their whole career with you.
Note: Stacy Pursell with The VET Recruiter is a Certified Employee Retention Specialist (CERS). She is a member of an elite group of about 30 search professionals in the world who currently hold this active certification and have passed this challenging exam.
Finding and retaining employees is the #1 concern of employers in today’s marketplace and this certification will help our clients become better at retaining their employees in order for them to have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of organizations. If this is something you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.