Productive employees are a valuable asset to organisations, particularly when turnover rates are disturbingly high. While employee retention strategies primarily falls on HR’s responsibility, managers have a major role to play in these employee retention strategies as well.
Given that productive employees are no doubt the ones that managers want to keep (for as long as possible), here are five useful tips in which managers can utilise to retain these effective workers.
Clear expectations
The last thing that employees want is lack of direction. As a manager, it is important to set the expectations clearly so that employees are able to execute their tasks effectively. At the same time, clear and continual communication helps employees to understand the team’s and organisation’s goals. If your best employees have a clear understanding of their job roles, they are likely to feel more engaged and perform their best.
Professional development opportunities
Employees who find that there are no career development opportunities within the organisation are likely to feel disengaged and look elsewhere for these opportunities. Providing opportunities for employees to grow their career as well as allowing employees to seek out their own professional development opportunities is a great way to make your best employees feel appreciated. At the same time, this shows your employees that you are committed to their professional well-being.
Planned (and unplanned) recognition
The best way to recognise employees’ efforts is to reward them, be it through monetary benefits, a promotion or a simple token of appreciation. Other forms of recognition could come together with year end awards or public praise for employees. Recognising employees’ efforts, be it for a major project that they have worked on or even a small project, goes a long way in motivating employees.
Work-life balance
A stressful and overworked culture is likely to result in even the top performers to lose motivation. As a manager, it is important to respect and accept employees’ management of their own work-life balance. While there are peak periods whereby the entire team needs to be on board, employees need to be aware that they have the flexibility to take time off and recharge. Providing that flexibility to employees allow them to perform better at work and motivate your best employees as well.
Regular feedback and check-ins
The annual performance review is a good way for employees to reflect on how they have done within the year. However, regular feedback helps employees to continuously improve throughout the year. Sometimes, employees might feel disengaged due to a lacklustre work environment or the overwhelming workload. Providing constant feedback with employees helps you to understand your employees’ workload and how the team can support. This is a great way to help bring out the best in each and every one of your employees.
Productive employees are no doubt rare gems in the large talent pool. In order to retain these effective employees, managers need to come up with retention strategies to ensure that these employees feel motivated and rewarded. It would certainly require effort on you, as a manager, but efforts invested in your best employees will help to develop a productive and supportive team in the long run.
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