There’s no doubt you’ve heard the old saying “It’s hard to find good help these days.” For many employers, this seems to be true. And the problems don’t end there. Finding qualified candidates is hard enough, but keeping them?
It just goes to show that as you’re building your business, it’s important that you spend time investing in your employees by finding good, high-quality people, and then giving them reasons to stay. But, how can you do that in today’s driving economy? Here are some solutions to help you find and keep your best employees.
Hiring
To build your best workforce, it all starts with hiring. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s imperative that you spend the time looking for and hiring the best people. This involves more than just scoping out resumes online or casing the local recruitment fairs. Spend time crafting the ideal employee for the position — who, exactly, would be best to fit this particular role in your company? Of course, skills and knowledge are a big part of this, but it goes deeper than that: what sort of personality would best fit this position? What type of person would gel best with the team members already on staff?
Then, once you’ve sketched out your ideal candidate, set out to find that exact person. Put together an interview committee and start meeting with potential hires. Along the way, it’s also important to consider which qualities you would consider to be “deal-breakers,” and which you can compromise on — at least a little.
Once you’ve found the perfect person, don’t hesitate; if they are that good, you can bet other companies have their eyes on them as well. Get them before someone else snatches them up!
Training
Once you’ve assembled the right people, you might think that the hard part is over, but it’s actually just beginning. Finding great people is the first step; getting them to stay is the second. To do this, you have to spend time, money and energy investing in your employees’ work skills as well as their emotional health. You can’t just hire them and then assume everything’s always okay. Your employees are going to want to know that you value them as workers and that you value the time they put into your company. To do this, you’re going to have to put some time and effort into developing their skills.
Most employees — even ones who are happy with their current position and don’t plan on going anywhere soon — view their job as an investment into their own skill set. As they work, they hope to learn more and take on new tasks and responsibilities. This helps them see a future that involves movement and growth of some kind — even if it’s still growth in the same company or even a lateral shift. People like to know they have options. In addition, most employees genuinely want to know they are doing their job well. Both of these needs can be satisfied by implementing an effective training plan.
Effective training is more than just the occasional video or quick five-minute show-and-tell. Effective training involves being able to design high-quality training programs that identify goals, knowledge and skills that need to be learned. It walks employees through the steps to achieve those goals and skills and works with them as they build their skills and knowledge. In short, effective training requires planning and work. But when done right, you have a more confident, more capable team who are ready to put their best efforts into getting the job done.
Boosting Morale
Along with investing in your employees’ futures, the other way to let them know you care is to pay attention to their emotional well-being. Even happy employees can become fatigued at work from time to time. This can come from feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated or just from needing a change of pace. Listening to these often unspoken concerns can go a long way towards letting your employees know just how much you value their time and effort.
It doesn’t even have to be a grand gesture (although those don’t hurt). Simple words of encouragement, personal conversations, small handwritten notes and gifts — little things like that are great, easy ways to let people know you appreciate the job they are doing, and that you value them as employees. In fact, there is an endless number of ways you can pay attention to this critical, but often-overlooked piece of the puzzle.
In Conclusion
Building the right team and then boosting their skills and morale is an essential part of any successful business. However, it’s not always an easy thing to do. These suggestions are meant to get you pointed in the right direction, but ultimately every business has to do what works best for them. If you want more help figuring out what that is and boosting your workforce, please be sure to visit us at Business Marketing Engine. We have a variety of solutions that can help get your workforce where you want it to be!
