What makes a good employee? Intellect? Communication? Organization?
The best employees are more than just qualified to do the job. They carry a deep institutional knowledge, have solid relationships with clients through years of work and influence co-workers. All of these qualities together impact your company on a local level that ultimately guides the direction of your profits.
Keeping a good employee in today’s market is more important than ever. The cost of training a new hires, the gamble you take with personalities and work ethic (things not always easily spotted in resumes/interviews) and the opportunity cost of the institutional knowledge gap all take their toll.
Keep your A team with these 5 tips.
- Flexibility. The best employees know what needs to be done and when. Trusting them to manage their own schedules (to a degree) shows that you have confidence in their performance and trust them as an employee.
- Training. Investing in key employees through education and professional training is vital to taking your business to the next step. Many colleges offer a variety of options, ranging from online courses to 6 month long certification programs (go to www.TampaTraining.com to learn more) with varying prices. A great way to determine how much you should spend per employee is to “benchmark” career training with others in your industry. While the national average is around $706 per year, that number can vary from $200 to $3000 depending on the market sector. Remember, there’s nothing more expensive than employees who do not have the skills set to do their job.
- Ownership. It’s all about trust. Once an employee has shown they can be a top performer and can ethically manage themselves, letting them take ownership is key. Trusting their decisions and allowing them to take on a project without direct supervision will create better time efficiencies and allow the employee to continue to grow and develop in the position.
- Appreciation. The little things add up. Showing employees they are valued through company lunches, vacation time, small gifts and one-on-one meetings can really go a long way. A frustrated employee will not reach their maximum potential and end up costing your business money in the long run. Just taking the time to talk and hear-out any problems or barriers they might face on a daily basis will make the best employees better and bring under-performers to where they need to be.
- Earnings. You can throw out freebies and pep-talks all day long, but paying employees that perform is what will ultimately keep them there. Yearly increases are ideal, but when an employee has (consistently) gone above and beyond so should you. Again, the cost savings of hiring, training and all the unknowns are much more expensive than a well paid top performer.
The best employees understand your company, know what needs to be done to accomplish big picture tasks and really take to heart the business’s long term goals. Keeping the A team through trust, training and pay will lead your company to a brighter, more profitable future.
The Institute for Corporate & Continuing Education at HCC offers a wide variety of courses to help you identify, develop and keep your best employees. For information on classes like Retaining Talent, Developing Others, Behavioral Interviewing/Targeted Selection and Coaching others, go to www.TampaTraining.com.
