A company can only operate well and grow if it attracts and retains quality employees. In other words, the performance of the company is limited by the performance of the people iA company can only operate well and grow if it attracts and retains quality employees. In other words, the performance of the company is limited by the performance of the people in it.
So, to any business owner, it should be a top priority to focus on hiring great employees and keeping them for a long period of time. I learned this over the years as I’ve hired hundreds of people to work at my company, Cravebox. Below we’ll discuss key aspects of a company culture that will reduce employee turnover.
Fair Pay
The most fundamental aspect of the employee/employer relationship is an exchange of time and effort for a monetary compensation. Your employees are providing value to you and your company by working hard, accomplishing tasks, and producing results. This will allow your company to function well and grow. In return, you need to provide value to your employees by paying them fairly. You should always monitor your employees’ performance to determine when you should give raises.
It’s always better to give raises before an employee needs to approach you about wanting a raise. This shows them that you’re watching their performance and that you appreciate how well they’re doing. As I write this, the annual inflation rate is 7%. You need to also keep this in mind and give raises to your employees that hold the pace of inflation. If you pay them fairly and give frequent raises when deserved, they will feel appreciated, stay in the position, and have more positive energy to be more productive. This is key to reducing employee turnover.
Organization
Employees want their role to be organized and well-defined. They want to know what you expect of them and what they’re supposed to work on and accomplish. I’m not saying they want to be micromanaged (more about that below under the “freedom” header) but they do want to come to work and know what to do. To accomplish this, you need to create clear, simple, roles. You should know exactly what you want this person to do and accomplish.
They should know what they’re supposed to focus on, what the vision is, and they should be trained well and be given the tools to move in the right direction. For example, if you hire a social media manager and marketer, they should be told exactly what’s expected of them in terms of social posts, marketing budget, goals in terms of customer engagement or sales, they should be trained and given tools like social account logins, image assets, etc. It should all be organized and as simple as possible.
Listening
Listening is so important to reduce employee turnover. If an employee communicates with you – whether it’s a text, email, call, or they sit down in your office – you should stop what you’re doing and listen to them. Take the time and energy to be empathetic. Put yourself in their shoes and work with them to find a solution to whatever the issue is.
You might think that whatever they’re saying is not a big deal or not important to the overall success of the company or maybe you’re just having a busy, stressful morning and you’re not in the mood to listen. But if you don’t listen effectively and see things from their perspective, they won’t feel supported or understood and might start looking for work elsewhere.
Respect
You must always respect your employees. Never lose your temper or be unprofessional. If you need to correct someone for something they did wrong, or give a warning because their performance is not meeting your standards, you must do it in a respectful way. Sometimes employees make the same mistakes repeatedly, and sometimes they make a mistake that’s costly to the company.
To reduce employee turnover, no matter what, you must approach them with respect. You might need to respectfully let them go, but if they’re a great employee and you want to keep them, respectfully correct their mistake or issue and find a mutual understanding. A relationship with a good employee is a long-term relationship between two people and if you don’t respect them, they won’t respect you.
Freedom
This kind of goes along with the “Organization” point made above. If you create a clear and organized structure for the employee, you can then give them space and freedom to accomplish the mission in their own way. The framework that you created clearly tells them what they should achieve and what tasks they should complete, but you shouldn’t micromanage them on exactly how they should get those tasks done.
They’re trained, they have the proper tools, they understand what they’re supposed to work on, and they’d prefer if they can go about the details of getting from point A to point B on their own. You should still check in on them to make sure they’re getting their work done and finishing their tasks but give them freedom to do it their way. This might be the most effective way to reduce employee turnover.
