The job market is still really hot, and candidates have a lot of opportunities to change jobs looking for better salaries or faster career advancement. Here are some ideas for you to consider when thinking about retaining your most valuable employees. These will help keep them feeling valued and away from looking for opportunities elsewhere.
Hold Stay Interviews
When hiring for open positions, we spend a lot of time getting to know the candidate’s skills, credentials, and career desires. Once on board, sometimes those types of conversations drop off. Stay interviews allow you to determine how they feel about the job and whether they want to stay. Ask questions like: Are they getting the training they need? Are they clear on their success measures? What skills do they want to develop? With this information, managers can give employees development and other opportunities aligned with their expectations.
Monitor Salary Range Updates Proactively
When it is an employee’s market, salary ranges for key jobs tend to rise faster than at other times. When this happens, top talent can easily move between companies to get salary bumps that they can’t get with their current employer. Often, a salary increase is the only reason a loyal employee would choose to leave. Staying on top of the trends in salary range changes in the market gives you the chance to proactively adjust salaries for your top performers. Addressing this with a counteroffer after an employee has resigned does not generally work.
Show Appreciation and Invest in the Development
Employees who feel valued and invested in become more loyal. A little appreciation for their hard work and great ideas goes a long way. Employees become more engaged and excited to perform when they feel appreciated and invested in. Motivated employees with opportunities for development, training, and career advancement don’t easily look elsewhere for opportunities they already have in their current role.