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April 30, 2013

Why Your Great Employee Still Works For You (And How to Keep Them!)

Brandon Bernard

You followed our advice from a couple months ago and hired the prefect employee. They still work for you; but do you understand why they still work for you? Just as much as knowing what you are doing wrong will help you improve, knowing what you are doing right will also help. And just because the employee still works with you doesn’t mean that you are doing everything, or even a lot of things right. This month, we will take a look at why employees stay at their jobs.

When you have employee turnover, you know that this costs you money. You need to begin the hiring process and then train the employee. It can be months before your company is operating like it should. This is the side we tend to look at but many of us neglect to look at the employee side of things.

Leaving a job is costly for the employee for a variety of reasons. Not only can lost pay during any transitional pay negatively impact their wallet, but there are social costs as well. Leaving a job typically severs some relationships and can cause the individual to need to rework their social networks. I don’t mean that they will sit on Facebook or LinkedIn for hours on end unfriending or unfollowing people. I mean that employees who frequently hang out with coworkers will now need to find new social circles. Simply because Tom leaves company A doesn’t mean he can’t still go golfing with his old work buddy, Tim but this is more the exception to the rule. This being said, employees who have more social connections in your company will tend to stay with your company far longer because their friends are there.

Last month, we talked about how bonuses are correlated with results and how they might not be as effective as you would like. This is one of those instances that the complexity of humans can override a big bonus.

How can you foster this though? It isn’t logical to force your employees to hang out outside of work and forcing them together can create awkward situations that can be a big motivator to leave, if you aren’t careful. Companies that successfully foster the good relationships, however, can keep their best employees with little added cost. There are a few methods that I’ll talk about today but these certainly aren’t the only ones. If you think of another one, add it in the comments section and share it with us.

First, companies will want to provide mentors. This doesn’t mean you have your new hire shadow someone for a week or two then throw him or her out on his or her own. The mentor should remain their mentor for as long as you can keep that going. This relationship should be equal, however. You don’t want one person to be the ‘boss’ in this relationship.

Next, your company can design more work teams that will get people to work together to achieve a common goal. This will help people interact with others and when people strive toward a common goal this helps to nurture relationships.

Finally, look at other factors that may foster some cohesiveness in your team. If you have a group of older women in your business, hiring a young college graduate may not foster many relationships and get the new graduate to feel strong ties to your company. Another great way to get friendships at work is to invite your employees to refer their friends. Why take a long time developing what might already be there?

These social factors will help get people entrenched in your company and will help you keep employees. Next month, we will look at some more specific tips on how to retain key employees.

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