How to Keep Good Staff

Most SMEs would find it difficult to match the incentives many corporate companies are offering employees—cars for their spouses, nine-day fortnights, subsidised gym memberships, yearly train tickets, rainwater tanks and iPods—all in the name of recruiting good staff and keeping them. But as Charisse Gray reveals, small businesses can compete with the bottomless pockets of larger organisations

Keeping good staff has always been an important issue, but in today’s business climate it is more pressing than ever for SMEs to ensure that top talent stays with you. Skill shortages will only worsen as the baby boomer generation moves towards retirement, and attracting and retaining valuable staff will become even more challenging for small to medium businesses in the years ahead.

As an SME you can compete with larger companies if you understand that what employees are looking for today is not just remuneration, but a total employment experience. Employees are looking to form an emotional attachment to an organisation, and when they find this they are more likely to stay.

A total employment experience starts with a strong employer brand with which people can identify, and is enhanced by a good workplace culture, competitive salary, and targeted financial and non-financial offerings.

It is so much easier for an employer if you don’t have to work hard at recruiting and keeping the best people. Companies that are good to work for—that have a good workplace culture and strong employer branding—don’t have to work hard at recruiting good staff. The word gets out and ‘the law of attraction’ kicks in.

Employer branding is a ‘whole of business’ strategic approach to attract, engage and retain talent. It is concerned with building an image in the minds of current and potential employees that your business is a great place to work. It’s about relationships—those between an employer and current, past, and potential employees.

As Brett Minchington, managing director of Collective Learning, a firm specialising in employer branding, explains: all businesses, regardless of their industry, have an employer brand. “It’s the glue that binds the different components of the business together to ensure employee loyalty, commitment, and performance.

“The employer brand is the most powerful tool a business has for attracting, engaging and retaining the right ‘talent culture fit’. There is so much competition for good talent today but those companies who have projected a strong employer brand will be in a better position to pick and choose from the best candidates. In fact, having a strong employer brand means talent will choose them.”

Your staff culture is important, too. How do your staff feel about the workplace culture? Is it a fun place to work? One of the key secrets to retaining valued staff is creating an office culture people enjoy being part of.

Making your business a fun place to work, where laughter and a social atmosphere is encouraged, will cost you nothing. A happy employee is a productive and engaged employee who enjoys coming to work and is more likely to stay.

Increasingly research indicates that what is important to people is how they "feel" about their workplaces and how they relate to each other as friends, colleagues, and co-workers. This outweighs factors such as the job itself, the salary, geographical location, and the technology being offered.

Incentive initiatives can be powerful staff motivational tools and even the financially- based ones don’t have to be expensive to be effective. Monetary incentives, like pay increases, bonuses and profit-sharing, are typically given for outstanding performance. However, you can also give rewards for length of service, sales, suggestions or ideas, safety, and attendance.

Not all incentives have to be financially based. Non-financial incentives can include simple things like ‘employee of the month’ plaques, early Friday finishing, child care, flexible working arrangements, telecommuting, job-sharing, child-minding facilities and health benefits. These incentives send strong messages that you value family.

You might consider longevity bonuses for employees on the anniversary of their employment with you, a strong message that says you value employees who stay with the business. Taking your team out to the occasional dinner sends a clear message that you appreciate it when staff go the extra mile.

A non-financial incentive can be as simple as giving a valued staff member much needed support when their workload becomes heavy. This proactive measure will improve production while, at the same time, showing the employee that you understand and appreciate exactly what they are going through, and you are prepared to do something to ease their burden and help them carry out their duties more efficiently.

Helen Bermingham, director of human resources, NSW Business Chamber, says that offering staff differing programs across a business, with short- and long-term financial incentives targeted at specific roles, rather than the traditional company bonus, is an emerging retention trend.

Bermingham cites other popular incentives as one-off sign-off bonuses to attract candidates into the business–changing from monthly to quarterly sales commissions; secondment opportunities; increased leave entitlements; professional development opportunities; variable pay plans for sales executives; soft benefits—i.e., fruit bowls in the office, massages, birthday gifts, etc.; retention payments for tenure; ability to purchase additional annual leave; and immediate rewards for performance like movie vouchers, dinners, weekends away etc.

Never underestimate the power of recognition and praise. Showing appreciation and praise to your valuable employees sends a positive signal to all your staff that you value and appreciate your talented and loyal employees. Simple but important gestures—such as thanking and praising your good employees regularly and giving them feedback about the contribution they’re making—provides positive reinforcement. Most employees feel a sense of pride when an employer communicates with them directly about how much their individual contribution is valued by the business.