Recruiting the right employees is easy. But the challenge is to motivate and retain them. Retaining the right employees in the right place is the secret of any organisation's success.
Usually the employees are loyal to their organisations. But they become unhappy job-hoppers when they feel that they are not valued and not given enough challenges and opportunities.
It is true that everyone is looking for better prospects and the present organisation is often only a pole-vault to jump into better pastures. The CEO to the frontline executive, all are waiting for the right opportunity to migrate.
Employee turnover is costly and it makes the organisations less efficient and productive. If we want to retain the top performers we need to know why people leave. The reasons for leaving may be many.
1. Lack of opportunities and challenges
For many young and bright employees of today money is not a concern. They are looking for more than compensation packages and benefits. They want challenges and job satisfaction. If you want to retain
them, offer them not money but challenges and risks. They thrive in challenges and love risks. They look for job satisfaction and contentment in their work. Job satisfaction comes out of their relationship with the management; it's the effect of good work environment and is the fruit of their commitment to a vision.
2. Lack of management support
One of the main reasons why people quit is the lack of support from the top management. The top management itself is often not aware of what is going on and not sure of what decisions to be taken. The
victims of their poor communication and management are always those at the bottom. The only thing they communicate well is to tell the employees that they are responsible for every failure. If you want
your employees to be loyal to you, support them when they need you. Be visibly present by their side in their struggles and appreciate their victories.
3. Lack of monetary rewards
For many people today telling, "I don't care about money but I need challenges" is a fashion. Most of the employees are there with you because of the rewards you give. When they feel that they are paid less than what they deserve, when they feel that you are not faithful to your promise to increase their package, when they feel that you don't reward hard work and commitment its time for them to bid you bye. Better compensation and benefits will always keep them by your side.
4. Lack of career development possibilities
No one likes to be in the same place for long. People long for new experiences, changes and growth. Once they know that their present organisation doesn't provide them opportunities for their career, personal and professional growth they feel suffocated in that rigid system. In such a dissatisfied atmosphere they long for liberation and when the right opportunity comes they pack up and leave you.
5. Lack of visionary mangers
The supervisors are one main reason why many employees leave. Supervisors and mangers are often shortsighted and fail to place the right employee in the right place. They make a highly talented person become a failure and the employee alone is made accountable for the losses. The management should consist of visionary people who are able to assess the potentials and strengths of the employees and give them the right opportunities and right challenges where they can excel. It must create a positive work environment where people are rewarded and recognized, where free and open communications exist and where people feel excited and thrilled to work.
6. Lack of friendly atmosphere
Often our workplace is so boring with so many serious people around. The workplace should be a home where people smile, relax and enjoy working. Every morning the person should long to come to work.
Friendly and homely place is a must if you want to retain your staff. The management is so much caught up in the web of profit and revenues that it looks at people only as a means to higher profits and forgets to look at them as persons. Listen to the employees, respect them and make work fun for them if you want them. Provide an employee-friendly environment where they can participate in decisions making, execution and evaluation.
7. Lack of freedom
If the employee can't express his ideas and thoughts freely in the organisation he won't last there. We must create an atmosphere where people feel free to contribute their ideas, criticize the existing systems and try out alternatives to make their work more productive and satisfying. There should be freedom for him to use his talents and skills. There should be freedom to make mistakes.
We need to invest in building up retention if we want our organisations to be successful. Recently I read about a dairy manager who said: "Every time a milker leaves I lose about one cow."
We have recruited the best talents; now it's our duty to motivate and retain them for the health and success of our organisations.
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