What keeps your employees engaged and passionate about your company?
Staff and keeping them is a vital part of any company. So, what keeps your people engaged and stay with you, especially in today’s candidate driven market where unemployment is so low?
Clearly there is no stock answer to this but ultimately treating people as individuals with personal career plans and goals is a good place to start. Sure, you can’t provide personal training and sessions for everyone every day but some element of this is appreciated by all employees.
One way in which is this done is the Personal Development Plan (or PDP.) How many times have you completed a PDP or has your manager as a box ticking exercise? The idea behind it is commendable but the execution often poor.
Within an organisation, certain parts are realistically too difficult to change or effect or an employee level, especially in a large company. So, let’s concentrate on the areas that are more relevant.
Is it just the money/benefits or does culture, empowerment and trust play an important part in the process?
Some people choose a boss rather than a company. Many people want direct reports and thrive on being a manager. I think a manager’s responsibility is often understated. If you are a manager of 8 people and you are a great boss, these people are more likely to be effective and stay accordingly. That would make and save the company significant sums of money. Identify those people that can motivate and lead others. This is often not who has been there the longest, but those with the right skills.
However, bosses can also change or move on and today’s business world is very dynamic. So, the overall culture and structure is important. Some HR departments have employee liaison officers and, again if implemented correctly, this can be powerful too.
People are all individual and will sometimes leave for unpredictable personal reasons. Hiring correctly in the first place is also key; if people don’t move for the right reasons, they invariably wont be happy.
But, what else can we all do to retain staff better?
