Small businesses have a lot on their plates when it comes to running an organization. Finding success is one thing but ensuring employees stick around to see that success is another.
Retaining employees is a generic problem that many businesses face, regardless of their size. For a small business though, the benefit of keeping hold of employees is reducing the costs to what limited funds you have.
Having to hire or rehire staff can be a costly expense and when it comes to a small business, this could be the difference between a profitable year or a loss in finances. With that said, some tips on how to retain your employees wouldn’t go amiss right? Here are some helpful ways in which small businesses can keep hold of their staff for longer.
Promote staff before hiring more employees
Before you go hiring new staff, think about the staff that is already within the business. With a small business, hiring another staff is another financial responsibility. However, rewarding staff with a pay rise or job promotion in order for them to take on additional work can be useful.
There are often employees who feel overlooked within their workplace and that in turn can cause them to walk away or get headhunted with a better offer. When it comes to hiring employees, be mindful of what your business needs at the time and whether or not it can be found in the current workforce.
Chances are, there’s someone within the company that’s itching to take a stab at a new role or is willing to create a new hybrid role to take on the work required. Of course, it’s important to ensure management of the workload is still fair and manageable for those involved.
Offer a great benefits package
A benefits package is a great way to entice employees to stick around. If they’ve got it good in their current role, why look elsewhere? While it can be challenging for a small business to offer the same degree of benefits as a big company can, it’s still important to offer what you can.
The employee experience relies on more than just the role they’re doing. It’s important to satisfy your employees in all areas of the workplace. From the company dynamic and the appreciation, they get within the workplace, to the perks they get on top of their monthly pay packet.
Try to give your employees anything you can to sweeten the deal and that will keep them in the company for longer than they even might have planned to.
Provide all the tools needed for your employees to do their best
Your employees rely on the equipment and tools they’re given by the company. Even as a small business, to achieve the results and quality projected, there need to be investments made into the tools and equipment that each and every staff member uses on a daily basis.
For example, office equipment which means the employee’s workstation, the printing, and stationery materials are all essential tools needed for productivity levels.
Think about the online tools and software that employees need to thrive within their roles. These tools may only cost the price of a Starbucks coffee per month but they could be critical to helping your employees get more out of their working day.
Assign a budget to the business to make sure every employee within every department is getting everything they need to work hard in the workplace. A lack of equipment or poor quality is only going to hinder the business and what it produces for its customers/clients as a whole.
Give support through 1-2-1 meetings
It’s important to stay in touch with your employees. It’s something that can be really helpful in keeping tabs on your staff. Not in a creepy or invasive way but to help have eyes and ears on those you want to look after.
Every staff member needs this communication and connection every so often to update their seniors on what’s going on. Are they comfortable with the current workload they have on their plate? Is there something that’s been bugging them and they just want to get it off their chest?
1-2-1 meetings are very few and far between in many companies but as a small business, this can be crucial to instill from the beginning.
Whether it’s a morning check-in before the day begins, or you’re looking to do these meetings weekly or once a month, anything is better than simply letting your employees off to do their own thing and not checking in with them until some months later.
Look at a better work-life balance
A better work-life balance is often uttered on the lips of every employee who is looking to improve it. While bigger businesses may be able to take advantage of this, it can be a hindrance to small businesses that try to follow suit.
Most employees will want to work hard for their company but at some point, it can feel like they’re being taken advantage of. You can get the same quality of work out of them, without needing them to work overtime and sacrifice the part of their day where they get time for themselves and their families.
Try to find ways of introducing a healthier work-life balance that only improves upon their productivity levels when they’re in the workplace.
Treat all your employees with respect
Employees deserve respect, each and every one of them. That respect can waiver when certain employees consider themselves more important than others. That can often come about within positions of power and it’s important to clamp down on those occasions where it happens.
Every employee should be equal and deserving of respect from their peers. If not, then there’s no guarantee that the employee in question is going to stick around to take the disrespect. In fact, they’re more likely to leave with a sour taste in their mouth and an ambition to bad-mouth the company for years to come.
Learn to treat others how you want to be respected and encourage that mindset throughout the company.
Give them as many opportunities as possible
As a small business, there’s only so much that you can offer financially. However, being seen to be offering the most possible is going to do more favors than doing very little at all.
The small gestures might be enough for those who are looking for them within their role. For some, it might not be enough but at least you’re giving everything that the business can possibly give to keep staff happy and well looked after.
Try to use some business connections where possible if it’s trying to offer opportunities for career growth and networking. Make use of any freebies you can get your hands on and always remember that a little goes a long way!
Consider offering mentorship programs
Finally, a good option for those who are looking to improve upon their careers and for businesses needing to develop their employees is mentorship programs. Mentoring programs are effective because they give the employee an opportunity to learn from someone with more experience and skills that they might not yet have.
These are easy to implement and in most cases, might not cost anything to set up. Your employees will learn a lot and grow as a result of this help.
Small businesses that are looking to retain employees for longer can do so with the tips mentioned above. Make sure to utilize them in your own business this year where possible.
It is said that employees don’t leave good jobs, they leave bad bosses. You HAVE to support your employees and make them feel valued if you want to retain good ones!