IN TODAY’S WORKFORCE environment, employee retention is more important than ever. The good news is that retaining talent is easier than recruiting these days. But that doesn’t mean you can take anything for granted. At ER2 Image Group, actively creating a positive company culture is important to employee retention and, ultimately, to the success of our business. Let’s face it: Keeping your greatest assets feeling appreciated, happy, and motivated is everything.
So, what are some of the secrets we’ve found over the last 30 years to preserving happiness in the workplace?
Before focusing on any one thing, start with the mindset that everything is an opportunity to build a relationship with your staff. The environment of the company, each part of workplace, how management communicates, how you listen, how you show you’re doing things based on feedback, how you understand what they value most personally and professionally, you name it. Those opportunities are constantly around us, so self-awareness matters.
Promote From Within Where You Can
Our staff appreciates that we try to advance from within. We make sure people know they’re given every opportunity to move up in their career. Make sure your management team has a very solid review structure and press them to follow it. If your staff believes they will be rewarded for their hard work and commitment, they will certainly perform better.
Ensure Face Time With Management
We can’t manage everyone from a position of ownership. Over the years, we quickly realized as we added staff that a tiered management structure was a very important next step. You simply can’t do everything yourself, and eventually you must scale. Ensure employees are getting the time they need from their managers. Once you get larger, you must understand your limits as an owner and make sure you surround yourself with a good management team that will work within your employment model.
Live It Up When It Counts!
We are good at parties! We have outside events that help bring people together. Our Christmas Party is a special time to wine and dine our employees properly. One year, we rented a dude ranch in Wisconsin for the weekend. We bussed everyone out there. Everyone had their own cabin with wood burning stoves. They even had a horse for each employee, and we rode out to breakfast every morning in the forest. We have large budgets for these events and our staff always looks forward to them.
Make Your Workplace Serious Fun
Decorating your own facility with graphics is a smart move, not only for people visiting like clients and vendors, but also for your own employees. After all, they spend most of their days with you – shouldn’t it be a fun, energetic, creative place to work? That’s why we have music playing in every square inch of our building, including our bathrooms. We also cater lunch for our staff every Friday. These are the little things that add up and make a big difference in the name of morale and employee retention.
Compensate Competitively and Reward for Performance
We pay our staff competitively with a consistent compensation structure. In addition, we provide bonus programs and incentives for the projects our sales team, account executives, and project managers are involved in.
Retaining Your Best Team Members is a Growth Strategy
One thing we never wanted was for our facility to become a sweat shop. So, we adhere to one of the oldest and most important golden rules: Treat people how you would like to be treated. Having respect from your staff will go a long way. Because when you do need to hire new people as you grow and scale, who better to help identify those personalities that might fit right into your culture than the people you’ve retained, who know what you’re all about?
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