If the Great Resignation taught us anything it’s that employees are ready to make the jump if they don’t feel valued, taking their valuable knowledge and skills with them.
As leaders, investing in your existing workforce is key to improving employee satisfaction, keeping more funds in your proverbial pockets, and achieving bottom-line business goals.
Here are three ways to engage and retain your talent:
- Cultivate a culture of learning.
A learning culture is the heartbeat of any thriving business. When employees have the time and space to continually grow and learn new skills, their productivity is funneled toward reaching organizational goals.
💡 A simple way to do this is to roll out a yearly stipend for employees to use for personal or professional development.
On a day-to-day basis, encourage seasoned employees to expand their responsibility and ownership of their work, such as having them plan and execute a lunch and learn or build out a step-by-step guide on one of your technologies. (Bonus points if you use content that’s already out there!)
- Create initiatives to train up your next leaders.
When 63% of workers who left their jobs in 2021 claimed “no opportunities for advancement” as the reason behind their exit, it’s clear that it’s time to lean in and invest in the folks already in our organization.
💡 Keep long-term employees engaged, retain legacy knowledge in-house, and strengthen client relationships by developing initiatives for seasoned employees. Use these questions as a starting point:
- What programs can I provide to keep long-term employees engaged and excited to work at our organization?
- Think of it this way: Where can I customize learning opportunities for my employees?
- Can I build in-house growth or career opportunity plans for employees to advance in their roles?
- Think of it this way: How is their future job description different from their current job description? And where can I support in filling in the gaps?
- What additional skills would support employees to transform their work from good to great?
- Think of it this way: What tasks require perfection, and what tasks might their manager be able to pass off to another employee so they can grow into that role?
- Adapt management styles to support the growth of long-term employees.
As leaders and managers, we’re at the helm of workshopping through employees’ concerns and pivoting to provide solutions. After all, how can we expect our employees to perform at their best if we don’t support them with the tools they need to succeed?
💡 During 1-1’s with your employees, ask how you can help them work through any workplace friction. If friction points arise, ask yourself:
- What is that specific employee problem?
- How can I help them organize priority tasks if their plate is full?
- Or is there an opportunity to train or enhance processes to lessen the overall load?
Gaining insight first can help you uncover and work through bumps in your employee’s performance.
Although the Great Resignation is behind us, the lesson business owners, leaders, and managers learned is still prevalent:
Empowering your workforce can take your business to the next level, saving your organization time and 💰💰 in the long term through skilled, engaged, and loyal employees.
