Retaining and Motivating Staff: a 5-Point Guide for HR Professionals
The economic situation and global competition have had a great impact on the framework of today’s human resources departments. These factors have also had serious effects on employment and the motivation levels of employees. This is pushing HR managers to set new goals and new priorities in their strategies. It is part of their role as intermediaries between staff members and top management to identify a balanced solution that would be beneficial for all parties.
In an increasingly competitive business world, it is essential that HR departments maximize each and every resource at their disposal in order to avoid being surpassed by the competition when it comes to recruitment and retention. Not only that, but the cost of training employees only for them to later move on — possibly even to a competitor — can be a severe drain on resources.
Motivate Employees and Enhance Them
Companies have a tendency to focus on the individual performances of employees, investing time in identifying their weaker areas. However, it can be easy to neglect addressing how these individuals perform as part of a group. Increasing the attention placed on developing social skills and other factors such as collective productivity is the real key to business development.
This can motivate employees to contribute and buy in to their organizations by promoting freedom of expression and communication, and through the exchange of best practices and experiences. For example, including further training programs in your employee offerings can have the dual effect of improving employee performance and also business operation, as well as increasing your employees’ sense of personal development.
“Adult to adult is the key driver for motivating and retaining employees. If you treat your people like adults, they will behave like adults; if you treat them like children, they will behave like children. It should not be difficult, but acknowledging, appreciating, empowering, and respecting your own people will lead to them repaying you handsomely. If you treat your own people badly, then they are likely to do the same to your customers. One of the most successful CX brands in the world, the Ritz Carlton, guides all of its employees to its ‘North Star’: ‘Ladies & Gentlemen serving Ladies & Gentlemen’ – sums it up perfectly!” — Ian Golding
Horizontal Management
Tradition
More efficient management of employees in this framework may have a role in stimulating social interaction between managers and employees, and in turn simplify dialogue between the different functions. These in turn trigger a climate of greater freedom, and therefore greater employee satisfaction.
A company applying a horizontal management structure would involve self-managed teams, in which decision-making time is shortened and unhindered by layers of management. This decentralized decision-making process promotes employee involvement, as employees are made more responsible for steering business success. This, in turn, would make employees feel more valued and more motivated.
Provide Employees With the Best Tools to Perform Their Jobs
Developing employee skills is undoubtedly important, but it is also necessary to provide employees with the right tools for them to perform their jobs. As technology develops, the tools available to your staff should also be upgraded.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to use electronic systems and innovative tools — which will also ensure that you gain a competitive advantage over your competition. This, for example, would mean investing in new equipment such as better computers or more powerful software.
Using ten-year-old software when a competitor is using more innovative solutions will not only hamper your staff’s ability to perform, but it will also give your competitors the advantage from a client’s perspective.
When staff recognize that an investment has been made toward improving their ability to complete their work effectively, they will consequently feel that their work is valued — and this will improve motivation.
Career Paths and Internal Progression
This is one of the most important and effective ways to reduce the staff turnover, although one must admit that it is also the most difficult to implement. Employees want to feel they are making progress and that their careers can advance. To help them, you could review the organization of your company or your department and examine how to create different roles and responsibilities, which can then be turned into specialized career paths for your employees.
Promote a Sense of Participation
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When applying such changes, it is important to establish a forum whereby everyone from in the organisation can have some amount of input. While this might not result in everyone’s needs being satisfied, it can enable managers to make decisions and steer the organization’s operations in a direction that will allow a majority of the workforce to feel that their input and experiences are valued.
We are moving towards a more collaborative work environment characterized by flexibility, advanced technologies, and optimized processes. All of this is crucial to attracting and retaining employees — while taking into consideration that the cost of replacing talented people is often very high.
Ultimately, when it comes to retaining and motivating staff, the key is to create as comfortable a working environment for staff as is possible. There are many pathways through which you can create such an environment, but the means are not as important as this powerful end.
A version of this post originally appeared on TollFreeForwarding.com.