How to Prevent Valuable Employees From Leaving

How do you keep valuable specialists in your company and motivate them to grow and flourish – you can read about all that in our post.

Modern job market is very ambiguous. At first glance, it favors the employer. There is a possibility almost any employee at any given moment can hear something along the lines of, “You don't like the way things are? You're free to go – trust me, it won't be a problem for us to find a replacement for you.” Yet, if you take a closer look, it becomes clear that there are very few actually good specialists who are willing to take said person's place. If they even exist.

When it comes to hiring true professionals, we see terrible personnel shortage. It's hard to find a good team leader, senior specialist, chief engineer or any other leading specialist. So when such people leave, it becomes almost a disaster. We're talking stagnant projects, money spent on finding a suitable candidate and, most importantly, a lot of wasted time.

So, it makes sense to ensure in advance that valuable employees don't leave you. We recommend you follow three simple principles that have proven to be quite useful.

People-oriented approach is the most suitable one

As a rule, most good specialists have already figured out all their financial problems, so a decent salary for them is the norm and not an argument in favor of your company. It's important for professionals to be interested in their work – they need less routine and more profile tasks that will help them enhance their talents and improve themselves.

Try to eliminate or simplify all “boring” business processes – from the very first day they start working in your company. For example, if they have to fill HR profile, make it short and get the rest of the information you need during the interview. The interview itself should be conducted not only by an HR manager, but by the future colleague of the interviewee as well. That way utmost attention will be paid to the relevant topics, and general questions will be sparse and infrequent. This approach immediately creates the right mood.

Then, minimize the amount of paperwork. Task reports? Achieving KPI? All of that can be automated with modern CRM software and time monitoring systems that capture the amount of time people spent at work. Organize the working process so that most meetings are organized on the executive level. Let the specialists focus on their direct work – that way everyone will win.

Strategic benefits are more important than short-term benefits

This thesis should be communicated to both HR specialists and team leaders. The concept is very simple – if you can improve something, you should do it. You should be in constant contact with your employees, learn what they are happy with and what makes them miserable. Even a simple survey will already be enough to find out that one employee, for example, is interested in career development, another one doesn't think he gets interesting tasks, and someone else, for instance, wouldn’t mind getting more rest.

Of course, sometimes employees' wishes can't be fulfilled, but quite often the firm can actually negotiate something. Redistribute the workload, offer individual schedules (a lot of people find it more convenient to come later and leave later as well), raise wages when the time comes – all these actions will pay off. Your employees will become more loyal, and, therefore, they’ll work harder.

The only thing you should keep in mind is the fact that the system based on rewards – and all the above-mentioned things can be considered rewards – should correspond to the employee's feedback. If you try to meet your employee halfway and he doesn't do the same, it immediately sets a negative example. Firstly, the employee himself will start feeling like a “god”, which is very dangerous. Secondly, his colleagues are likely to react negatively to the unfair situation, which is even more dangerous.

Try to always stay objective. Autonomous automatic monitoring system Kickidler helps with that a lot – you always have all the data on the employee at your disposal, and you can compare his feedback before the so-called “reward” and after it. By the way, Kickidler helps find ways to improve working conditions even if the employee doesn't give feedback. You can always try something new and then assess the dynamics of work after implementing those changes.

Optimize your workflow

We've already talked about minimizing bureaucracy, but that's not always enough. Take a closer look at the reports of employee monitoring software Kickidler and at the overall work of the company. Figure out where your employees are wasting their time. For example, if you create templates for corporate and business communications once, you’ll save a lot of time. If you automate the report filling, you'll get a few more free minutes.

In fact, it is attention to details that creates truly comfortable working conditions. Saving three minutes here, five minutes there – that way you'll save about an hour, which is 12% of the working day. It's quite an increase, and it can be achieved by giving up the boring routine. In the end, it will be perceived by employees in the positive light.

Assess the results of work fairly

Being underestimated by bosses is a frequent reason for employees leaving – those specialists who actually try to work rather than simply go to the office to sit and wait for their salary. The desire for your efforts to be noticed and appreciated is natural for humans. Absence of adequate reaction from top management can either push an employee into labor anabiosis (he'll do just the amount of work that it takes to not be dismissed) or make him search for a new place of work, where the results of his work will be treated differently.

And the last thing we want to note – it's important to remember that specialists who work for you are human beings. Behind every number in Kickidler report there is person's effort, his potential, abilities and possible problems. Monitor the statistics, but don't forget about direct communication with your employees. That's how you create a fruitful environment.

Kickidler Employee Monitoring Software

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