How to Retain Employees

Almost everyone has a “work nightmare” story, a tale of this long, treacherous nightmare of journey that led them to leave a position, or a company. I’m sure you have one yourself.

But as employee turned employer, you want to break the cycle. You want to create an environment, a culture in your company that includes your team and uplifts them in every way possible. No one wants to be the “horror story” that’s told at happy hour or dinner parties, you want your employees to like what they’re doing, to feel valued and heard.

A high turnover rate in your company can be a red flag not just for prospective applicants, but also to clients and customers. So what can you do to retain your employees and create longevity within your team?

Here are a few key things you can do to retain employees and create a positive environment:

Retaining employees requires a holistic approach that takes into account their needs, career goals, and professional development.

Let’s get something straight. Your goals are not the only ones that matter in your business. Your employees have their own goals, their own needs. It’s important that you talk to them about what they are, how you and your company can help in their goals and development, and support them in their journey. It’s also a great way to show your dedication and support to them. Creating a development plan for them to achieve their goals, checking in, and holding them accountable shows an investment in them not only as an employee but more importantly, as a person.

Start by creating a positive and supportive work environment that offers employees opportunities for growth and development.

As a small business, I like to think that I have a lot of flexibile of the prairies or Toronto, they will have the same compensation based on theity for trying new things and seeing how it goes. “Signal is one big experiment” is something I’ve said to my employees more than once. Obviously, it’s a rather successful experiment, but also I want my employees to feel safe trying new things, too!

It’s important to remind ourselves as the employer or manager that we also don’t know everything so giving opportunities for our team to learn and grow is important.

Provide meaningful feedback and rewards for their efforts, and create a culture of recognition and appreciation.

We all need feedback to thrive in our work. If you don’t know if you’re doing a good or bad job it can be really hard. Make sure you take time to provide feedback - and support - whenever possible. And of course, make it timely. If you wait for a month to tell someone how they are doing it’s way too late.

Another way to reward effort is to properly compensate your employees for their work. I’m proud to always share that Signal pays a living wage regardless of where my team is located in Canada. Whether it’s a small town in the middle most expensive cities in the country.

Giving rewards or something like that is a hard balance - sometimes it can be a small thing - like a gift card for coffee - or a little bigger - like a bonus! Whatever fits your business culture and budget will work here.

Encourage collaboration and open communication, and make sure your team has the resources they need to be successful.

I have a very open communication policy with my team. I tell them where I’m succeed and where I’m failing/needing support and vice versa. Also, if one of my team hasn’t ‘successfully’ completed a task, I ask myself first if I gave them everything they needed to complete the task. Then, we go over where it may have fell short and how we can learn from it for the future. Coming from a place of ‘seeking to understand’ versus ‘how could you do this wrong?!’ usually helps foster open communication and encourages your team to ask for help.

Finally, be sure to create a culture of trust and respect, so employees feel valued and appreciated.

Ultimately, if you’ve done any of the above in a constructive way, you’re naturally building trust with your employees. If you are micro-managing, constantly critical, the trust will either be broken or extremely difficult to build. As business owners, it’s important to set aside our egos and trust our team to do their jobs. We hired them because they are good - great even - at their roles. Respect their experience and let them thrive at what they do best!

In summary, it’s really fun and cool to watch my team grow in their roles as well as their expertise. I know from my own experience - managers who ask what their employees want in their career and help facilitate that truly care about them flourishing.

Take some time to build what you want your company values and culture to look like and start naturally building it out.