Back To Career News

Managers: Here’s How To Keep Your Top Employees

Topics: Career Advice
Best employees
Mikolette/Getty Images

Attracting and retaining top talent is about more than just offering competitive salaries, although that’s certainly part of it. Employers have to go further in today’s tight labor market.

When it comes to running a business, is there anything more important that hiring and retaining the best people? Probably not. A recent study found that high performers are up to 400 percent more productive than average ones. No matter what industry you’re in, employing the most talented people is of the utmost importance. Here are some things you can do to attract – and retain – the best of the best.

1. Pay them well

Retaining the best workers is about more than just paying them a competitive salary. But great compensation isn’t a bad place to start. Explore PayScale’s Salary Data & Career Research Center to learn more about compensation rates for employers like yours. Identify what the industry standard is, and then do what you can to beat that. You can also talk with employers about compensation goals for the future and how you imagine they might progress within the organization in the years to come. Do your homework in order to set fair and competitive rates.

2. Don’t forget about other aspects of compensation

It’s not always easy to increase salaries as much as you might like. So also consider other aspects of compensation like benefits, time-off, and flexibility to help sweeten your offering. Some employers feel nervous about leaning into some of these options. But today’s workers want flexibility. Flexible work options decrease stress and increase job satisfaction for employees. Companies can use these arrangements to build teams across the country and the world, rather than restricting their hiring. Offering these kinds of flexible arrangements are a great way to both attract and retain top talent.

Do You Know What You're Worth?

3.  Be a leader not a manager

There are some real and profound differences between being a leader and being a manger. Top employees want to be inspired and trusted not corralled. So try to offer support rather than instructions. Develop better listening skills and seek to understand before being understood. Working toward a shared vision tends to go a lot smoother than trying to force an organization to run just the way you want. If you have the best of the best working for you, why not utilize them to the fullest? This might mean reframing your own role in the organization a little. Work toward being a leader that inspires, not just a manager who commands.

4. Listen to the needs of your employees

Every industry, and every organization, is a little bit different. So, in order to retain the best employees, it’s essential that you regularly assess the wants and needs of the people who work for you.

“Not recognizing what’s important to employees can translate into more job dissatisfaction, lower productivity, and higher voluntary turnover,” Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources at CareerBuilder told Forbes. “It’s critical that companies regularly take the temperature of their workplace and survey employees to identify where the company excels in providing a positive employee experience as well as opportunities to improve.”

5. Be transparent about compensation

PayScale’s Compensation Best Practices Report is a great way to learn how to best manage compensation in your organization. It’s not all about the bottom line though. In fact, this year’s report specifically highlights the importance of communication around compensation and pay transparency.

“Compensation, done well, is about your organization’s realization that you are playing a talent game and a perception game,” the report reads. “To win, you must approach what you pay, how you pay and why you pay as key pillars of your talent strategy and compensation philosophy.”

In order retain top talent these days, organizations should work to develop and communicate clear and fair systems around compensation to all of their employees.

6. Have a clear and inspiring vision

People want to do work that connects them with something bigger than themselves. This is especially true for talented professions who invest themselves fully in the work that they do every day. So, if you want to keep these people by your side, you need to have a clear and inspiring vision for your company. When employees feel truly motivated by the kind of work they’re doing, they don’t want to leave. Great workers want to know that their efforts are making a positive difference in the world. Be sure to keep this aspect of your company’s work front and center in everyone’s minds.

7. Create the right environment

At the end of the day, the best employees will want to stay with your company if they enjoy being in that environment day in and day out. So work to create the right kind of feeling in the office. Aim to create a relaxed and comfortable environment. Also, allow and encourage your employers to enjoy themselves and each other. There are a lot of benefits to having friends at work. First of all, it won’t hurt with retention. Creating the kind of environment that makes people want to come to work everyday isn’t easy, but it’s one of the keys to retaining the best workers in 2018.

Tell Us What You Think

How do you attract and retain the best employees? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.


Leave a Reply

avatar
  Subscribe  
Notify of
What Am I Worth?

What your skills are worth in the job market is constantly changing.