Seven Ways to Retain Top Employees

I found an article that discusses the challenges small business faces in retaining high level employees. It is easy for large corporations to offer incentives to employees whereas there is much more of a challenge for a small business. The prime example of a corporation that offers amazing incentives is Google, they have beyond belief things for their employees doing on the job and perks offered to them.

The article offers seven pieces ways to help retain the top performers:
1) Revisit old promises
2) Take Action
3) Have Fun
4) Keep Talking
5) Be Transparent
6) Address inequities
7) Be realistic

This article closely relates to chapter four: individual attitudes and behaviors.
First, an individual needs to have a high organizational commitment otherwise it would not be in the interest of a company to retain them. An employer and employee are going to have a psychological contract with each other and it's important that each of their needs are met, otherwise a psychological contract breach takes place. A breach is going to lead to low job satisfaction and commitment as stated by our textbook.

Some of the suggestions provided by the text that cause a positive work environment include a person's personality, person-environment fit, job characteristics, organizational justice, relationships at work, stress, and work-life balance. If a small business addresses these factors, it should provide a positive environment for employees. If a company decides to ignore some or all of these factors it will result in turnover, which is an employee leaving an organization. The text also states employee turnover has potentially harmful consequences, such as poor customer service and poor company-wide performance. Then the company needs to invest time and money into finding a replacement, both of which are scarce resources and cannot be afforded to be wasted. It's going to cost more money to find a replacement, when in the long-run it's in the best interest in the company to look after employees' well-being. Other problem that can occur is employee absenteeism, which is an unscheduled absence from work. Absenteeism can be very costly as well, just like employee turnover. According to our text absenteeism costs organizations $74 billion or about 15% of payroll is related to absenteeism.

If a company is unsure if they are meeting the needs of their employees they should consider conducting attitude surveys, which is defined as surveys that are given to employees periodically to track their work attitudes.

Have you ever worked for a company where it seems they are more interested in the bottom-line than they are in the well-being and satisfaction of their employees? I know I have unfortunately.


http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217482

Zachary Long