PPB July 2019

shapes and sizes. Employees may feel their work is not recognized or appreciated, they may not be given clear direction, or they may receive little to no feedback on their performance until appraisal time, when a host of issues that might easily have been addressed sooner suddenly appear. To be fair, employees who are promoted into supervisory and management positions often lack the skills to succeed and aren’t given enough guidance and support by their supervisors and managers. And if they’re not successful and leave the organization or move to another position, that means another new, inexperienced supervisor may assume the role. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual to hear employees say, “I’ve had six different supervisors in the past 18 months and I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing.” Investing in your managers and supervisors can help your organization avoid this chronic problem. 2 Be proactive. Often, employees don’t get asked about their intentions for staying with an organization until they announce they’re leaving. Being pre-emptive and proactive—through regular employee communication using both formal and informal channels—can help identify employees who may be thinking of leaving. In 2014, recruiters at Credit Suisse started calling employees identified as being at risk of leaving and notifying Five More Cool Ideas To Attract And Retain Good Employees by Claudia St. John, SPHR, SHRM-SCP 1 Ask your employees what matters most to them. You already have amazing employees. What do they love most about their jobs? Is it the autonomy? Is it the delish food you put out in the lunch room? Is it the wonderful clients you have? Promote what makes yours a great company and get your employees engaged in recruiting more talent just like them. And if you offer an employee referral program (and you should), make it meaningful. By that I mean $500 - $1,000 if the hire lasts a year. Use promo products and make prospects feel a part of the team before you’ve even hired them. 2 Help your talent alleviate their debt. Whether it’s an entry-level blue-collar worker or a recent grad with an MBA, young workers today are saddled with incredible debt, either in the form of credit card debt or student loans. They also question whether Social Security will be there for them when it’s their time to retire. Offer to help pay for their debt once they meet certain milestones such as length of service or performance level. You may even be able to offer a little less in salary for that huge peace of mind. There are companies to help you structure the benefit such as Tuition.io, Futurefuel.io and Vault. And if you offer a retirement plan, teach your young workers about it and the massive benefits of compound interest. Chances are, they may not know how it works. 3 Offer flexibility. Study after study show that employees truly value the ability to work from home on occasion and most would like to be able to do so one day a week. Offer this as a perk. When a child gets sick or a family emergency arises, factory workers often become a no-call, no-show because they know there are no benefits allowing them to take time to take care of what’s happening in their life. Reach out to them. Let them know you understand and that if their situation changes, you would like to have them back. 4 Remember the dream manager. In his wonderful book, The Dream Manager , Matthew Kelly describes a real-life situation where a janitorial company dramatically reduced the turnover of its cleaning crew simply by hiring someone to listen to the dreams of employees and help them develop a strategy to make those dreams a reality. The act of listening is a powerful tool that can truly transform lives and corporate culture. Ask your prospective employees what their dreams are and help them achieve those dreams. They may leave you in the end, but they will appreciate you forever, and you’ll have no trouble attracting new employees with fresh dreams. 5 Offer sabbaticals. I know, I know. I get grief every time I raise this but hear me out. What if, after five years of service, you were offered the opportunity to take some time off? Say a month or six weeks for employees to do anything they want—travel, study painting, visit long-lost family or write a book. They could stay with the company. The employer would have no added costs (payroll would remain the same, but you would need to realign duties for a period of time). Your company would create loyalty and memories for a lifetime. Who doesn’t want that? I’m sorry if you thought I was going to talk about zip lines in the warehouse or baristas in the break room. But really, when it comes to attracting and retaining employees, it starts with listening to employees. Today talented people can get any job. Make them want yours. Your commitment to them, their dreams and their needs will do just that. Claudia St. John is president of Affinity HR Group, Inc. continued on page 65 | JULY 2019 | 63 THINK