Want to hold onto a great employee? Here’s how!

These days it doesn’t take much for employees – especially the talented ones – to find a reason to move on to greener pastures, and fast.

While it’s unrealistic to expect employees in this day and age to consider a position in your business a ‘job for life’, it is still important to consider how you can attract and retain the best and brightest.

High turnover rates can cost your business financially and also in terms of productivity – think of the time you’ll have to spend on recruitment and extra training when you could’ve just kept a good staff member.

This is why it’s so important that you have a clear understanding of how to get the best staff and keep them. Ultimately, being able to keep your employees with you benefits your business’ long-term success

Here are five tips to make your business the ‘greener pasture’ employees want and ensure you hire and retain great staff.

# 1. Recruit the right people
It seems like such an obvious point, but so many businesses set themselves up for failure by not hiring the right person for the job. You need to have a clear idea of the kind of person you want even before you start the recruitment process.

Employment contracts and new hire documents should be specifically tailored to the employee’s role and needs. Ensure you have a discussion with your existing team as to what kind of employees you want in the company, and make sure the job description is detailed with all criteria agreed upon before even advertising the opening.

If you have an idea of the type of person you want in the company, it becomes much easier to create the specific employment contact you need and help them integrate into the company.

# 2. Have an effective onboarding and management procedure
One of the easiest ways to hire and retain the best staff is to have an on-boarding process that transforms the way new employees are involved and managed. Successful staff retention is about creating long-term employee engagement and growth.

Implement a procedure which allows for the on-boarding experience to be a personalised one, and you will have more success with keeping good employees.

# 3. Create a positive and welcoming work environment
Feeling unwelcome or out of place in the workplace is one of the key reasons that employees start to wander and seek out greener pastures. Ensure your workplace is open with communication, flexible and supportive so everyone feels included and comfortable.

A good way to do this is to ensure workplace policies around bullying and employee conduct are regularly updated and enforced. It’s also a good idea to encourage an environment where employee feedback and communication is valued – for example, have a system or procedure in place where employees can regularly express their opinions and ideas freely without fear of reprimand.

# 4. Make sure you provide feedback and career development options
Employees need to feel like they are valuable to the business and they’re being given an opportunity for growth and development. If your business doesn’t have a performance management system, put together a plan so you can give timely feedback on your employees’ performance.

A good performance management system makes it easier for you to recognise and reward good performance while allowing you to manage underperformance.

Ongoing training is also an important part of your employees’ professional development, and thus, the business’ development. For new employees, having a comprehensive training program and induction process laid out allows them to feel integrated and take on new challenges faster.

Providing training for current employees means they can grow and take on more valuable roles within the business.