Finding and retaining talented employees is a fundamental part of any successful business. Gallup’s research shows that engagement is highly related to positive business outcomes (Carter, 2018). Currently, employee retention is one of the most critical issues as the labour market continues to tighten up. Reason being, the demand for human capital is by far greater than the supply and this has created a global cannibalism in terms of war for talent.

Forward thinking companies think about employee retention long before a new employee commences work. Why? Because they start with the end in mind. Companies that take a fresh look at their tactics stand to gain more competitive advantage in order to retain their best talent. Superior talent is up to eight times more productive than the average ones (Keller & Meaney, 2017).

Mark Bugeja

The issue then is, what are the do’s and don’ts that organisations should contemplate or avoid in order to maximise engagement?

The do’s

As already mentioned, start with retention in mind when recruiting. Train, and get your managers on board during the recruitment process. Give them the tools to screen resumes together with HR personnel. Concurrently, give prospective employees a realistic job preview. 

Hire for attitude, train for skill. At my workplace, we’re not afraid to hire people with no experience, as long as these candidates show from the beginning that they possess a positive attitude towards learning and development. Recruiting such personnel is part of our retention strategy. In return we cultivate their passion and applaud their achievements.

Each onboarding process should be set up for success from the beginning. Aim to develop a process where new hires will learn about the job, the company culture and how they can contribute and thrive.

Empower your employees and make them feel more in control and trusted. Some controls are always needed but when you empower them, they are more likely to relish their work and will become more engaged.

Engaged people want a chance to succeed. They want to put their skills to good use and build upon those skills. Speak to your employees about their desired career path and look for ways to help them along. Where advancements are not possible, look for sideways moves that permit employees to attain different growth experiences.

Create an environment of trust by being transparent and authentic. This can be achieved by being open and honest with your employees. Once you achieve your employees’ trust, they will reciprocate by being open with their managers. Through active listening, managers will receive ideas and perspectives that deserves to be heard which will undoubtedly improve the working relationship. This will limit the possibility of the employees sourcing other opportunities elsewhere.

Reward your employees. There are numerous ways to make your employees appreciated, from employee-of-the-month recognitions to cash bonus for performance. Be creative based on your industry but always acknowledge them. It could be two free cinema tickets for coming up with a good recommendation. Most importantly make it a habit.

Creating an effective retention strategy should be high on every organisation’s agenda

Work-life balance. Train people to avoid to be busy being busy. Burnout is real and a healthy work-life balance is essential, and the management need to understand its importance. Provide your employees with telecommuting or flexible schedules – they will surely appreciate that.

The don’ts

Don’t recruit people just because they have the capabilities to perform – recruit the people who have the right attitude which fits into your company culture. The problem is not that talented people can’t do the job requested, it’s that your company might be too fast-paced and cooperative. At the end of the day, the new hire would not fail because they were unskilful, but they flop because they didn’t fit into your company culture.

Don’t devour employees’ time with undervalued duties. Ensure that each job is valuable by limiting insignificant and unimportant tasks which could damage morale. Some of these low value tasks includes regular reports that no one reads or duties that deliver results which are worth less than the time spent to make them.

Don’t promote people solely because they are very good at what they do but promote people who are either born to be leaders or can be developed into good leaders. For example, brilliant salespeople have the skill to sell ice to Eskimos but that doesn’t mean they are good to become sales managers, to lead a group of salespeople. Reason being that salespeople tend to focus solely on their sales targets, and how they are going to increase their income whereas they might have issues to concentrate on the bigger picture. They might be good to handle their own problems, but good leaders are those who can help their subordinates excel and feel part of a successful team. Each employee is unique, the manager with best retention performs work with each employee as an individual, adapting tasks, feedback and motivation according to the individual worker.

Avoid surprises. For instance, personal or departmental goals should not come as a revelation. Through regular communication, your employees should have a clear understanding of the role they play in achieving their objectives.

If you want to go the extra mile

A great technique for employee retention is the stay interview. Exit interviews are a good source to see better alternatives for the future but it might be too little, too late to keep a talented person who has just resigned. On the other hand, the stay interview asks why employees remain with you and the benefits are plentiful, claims Richard Finnegan, author of The Stay Interview (Amacom, 2018). This exercise provides insights leaders can use to motivate and retain the particular employee, not just a group.

Granted, hiring for attitude is an appealing term. This can be achieved by mapping out the type of personality you need working in the particular position. There are various online mapping tools which can help organisations to see if the new hire will knit well with the rest of the team. Additionally, by having your manager involved in the hiring process who will work closely with the candidate will help to target your candidate persona and through observation and the right questions will get a better understanding if they will be the right fit

For those who do not have an employee engagement survey at their workplace, I would strongly recommend introducing one. The future of work is still human and as an organisation we need to achieve objectives together. It is a great way to find out what is on their minds because it gives employees a voice and therefore better understand how your people really feel. Besides that, it empowers managers to further engage with their teams and help people and organisations to thrive.

Every time a talented employee walks out the door, people notice. Creating an effective retention strategy should be high on every organisation’s agenda. Remember, your efforts should start on a new hire’s first day on the job. All this will help you keep your staff morale high and turnover low while securing your organisation’s success.

Mark Bugeja is Head of Human Resources at Nectar and is a board member of the Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD).