Keeping employee retention rates high is a major concern for any business -- after all, it's hard to get through long-term projects and expand your business if you can't ensure that people will stay around. Here are some of the best ways to inspire employees, encourage them to engage, and make sure they stay around.
1) Profit-Sharing Programs
Most employees want to feel like their work matters to the company -- but it's hard to do that if all the profits seem to end up at the very top, especially when you have a lot of utilitarian workers. Profit-sharing programs offer a way to balance employee performance with direct, take-home rewards -- and the best part is that you can always afford them. After all, the profits only get shared if they're actually made!
Take-home pay isn't the only way to share profits, though. You could also offer benefits like having catered meals in the office, tickets to events, or other rewards for your employees that are purchased out of a group fund. If so, be sure to select options that most of your employees will like, and offer the others an equivalent amount in bonus pay.
2) Additional Benefits
Offering benefits that actually benefit the employees is another good way of improving your employee retention rates. This is an area where some executives make missteps -- a benefit that looks good on paper may not turn out to be so valuable in practice, and few things will depress employees more than seeing a lot of money spent on something that doesn't actually help them.
Instead, focus on benefits that improve productivity, such as improved wellness programs ("walking meetings" are a good start) and creating comfortable working conditions. HR solutions make this process easier than many companies expect.
3) Have an Open Door Policy
The best employees are adults -- and want to be treated like adults. Open door policies aren't just a good way of stopping people from quitting, especially if you see the warning signs -- they're a real opportunity to get feedback from your employees and look for solutions to their problems.
This isn't just about employee engagement, though that's a key part of it -- when people believe they can get the help they need, they're far more likely to ask for it right away, and that means spending less time wrestling with an issue they know they can't solve alone.
4) Rearrange Your Office
Few things restrict employees more effectively than having them in tightly-packed cubicles. If you really want to improve employee retention and get them to engage in their work, try rearranging your office and moving everyone into a large, open space where they can move around at-will.
This can sound intimidating at first, so let us explain.
Most of today's business work can be done on computers -- and today's younger employees prefer social work where they can cooperate with each other. They could spend valuable working time waiting for conference or work rooms to open... or they could go the more practical route and just sit down where they're comfortable.
The end result is a surprisingly high increase in productivity, coupled with people who are increasingly engaged in their work and enjoying what they do. In the end, this is what HR solutions are really about -- achieving the greatest benefits for the company at the lowest cost to you.
Margaret Jacoby, SPHR, is the founder and president of MJ Management Solutions, a human resources consulting firm that provides small businesses with a wide range of virtual and onsite HR solutions to meet their immediate and long-term needs. From ensuring legal compliance to writing customized employee handbooks to conducting sexual harassment training, businesses depend on our expertise and cost-effective human resources services to help them thrive. This article first appeared on the MJ Management Solutions blog.