How to Hold on to Good Staff

(so you’re not recruiting all the time)

We all know that one of the keys to success in business is having good staff. It’s no exaggeration to say that the difference between success and failure in many businesses is staff. Good staff not only make your life easier but they help you take your business to the next level.

Knowing how to keep good staff is an essential business skill without which you will forever struggle. So, it’s important to think about how to hold on to your good people. What follows are three critically important things that you need to know about when it comes to keeping your good staff.

Money

Of course, money is important. It’s important to pay your good people within market parameters, if not more if you can afford it. If you don’t there’s a good chance you will lose them to the competition. With the proliferation of online job networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, you can bet people are looking at your staff with a view to taking them from you. Underpaying your good staff is definitely a false economy.

But money is only part of the equation. As a recruitment agency operating across all job categories we know this better than most. In fact, every recruitment agency in the county will tell you that thousands of businesses fail to hold on to good staff despite paying them large salaries.

Non-Monetary Staff Motivators

The truth is that people are motivated by more than money. If you’re serious about keeping your good staff and not constantly spending your valuable time on recruitment campaigns you should be aware of the following broad guidelines on what motivates staff.

1. Have good workplace systems in place

   There is a famous saying in Human Resources. It goes like this: If you get a good staff member and put them in a bad system the system always wins.

   Very few things frustrate staff more than not being able to get things done properly because of procedural or systems blocks (bad work systems). These blocks could stem from but are not limited to poor software systems, poor managers, too much bureaucracy and redundant rules.

   When your staff cannot complete their work properly their stress levels rise and their job satisfaction levels decline. It’s important to note that your staff enjoy success. They like doing a good job. When your staff is experiencing the same frustrations then not only do you have an inefficient work place but chances are you have a bad workplace culture wherein people are disgruntled and probably fighting amongst themselves.

2. Good People Managers

   Successful workplaces are often characterised by good managers. Good managers need to be skillful in their area of work but they also need to be good with people. Having managers with technical skills but bad people skills is not good enough.

   People skills are critically important for not upsetting staff and keeping them happy. This reminds me of another well-known Human Resources saying: People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.

   If you want your good staff to stay you need to ensure that your managers have high level people skills. If they don’t, there are plenty of training providers who can help!

Best of luck!