You have hired them, now how do you make sure you retain them?

As a small business owner, one of the challenges is remaining focused on employee retention and preventing your employees from jumping ship.

It does not mean that you have start giving huge salary increases or doubling bonuses – there are many other ways that employees can be rewarded without the money factor coming into the equation.

What is it that you can offer that other small business owners or competitors do not offer? What has to be kept in mind, whatever you offer, should not be just for the sake of it; you need to ensure it is practical for your business and it will not have a negative impact on your business operations.

What business have found is that it is by offering small incentives that they have been able to hold onto their best employees. You are seen by the employees as being committed to them and creating an open and fair workplace culture that they are happy to work in.

The main question that I am often asked is, where do I start and how do I know whether I am over promising and under delivering and what can I offer?

The following guidelines can assist you when looking at retention strategies:

1. Revisit what you have in place and see if they are still appropriate or not. Could they be tweaked to give you an added benefit for your employees?

2. Have informal discussions with your employees and find out what within reason would be attractive for them.

3. You could offer an extra day holiday, a half day Friday every fortnight, coming in a couple of hours later a day every fortnight.

4. Plan to go out as a team once a month, whether it is for a bite to eat, a drink or even ten pin bowling.

5. Setup monthly roundtable discussions where you can update your employees with what is going on in the business - are goals being achieved, if not why not. Be transparent, do not sugarcoat any negative aspects, they will respect your honesty in sharing information with them.

6. Talk to your employees to find out what is working and what is not working and why. It is important that there is overall engagement and that your employees can see you are working with them.

7. Continue to share your vision with your employees, show them that they are important to the success of the business. With any retention strategy, the golden thread that runs throughout is communication, honesty and fairness. It is not only money that makes people stay with a business, but also how they are treated.

If you want to know more about the value I can bring to your business and help you increase profits and save time, then call me on 07922532645 to arrange a discussion.

Visit my website at www.constantiaconsulting.com to complete a free HR Audit Questionnaire and get a free detailed feedback report.