How to Motivate and Keep Your Best Employees
If you’re a franchisee or entrepreneur, you know that retention is more cost effective than recruitment. Hiring and training new team members takes time and cuts into your bottom line, not to mention the separation costs involved. In a competitive marketplace, your business needs to attract the best talent–and keep it. What are some low- to no-cost ways to help build a stronger team that stays together longer?
Recognize Your Team
The best employees get consistent feedback. When they go above and beyond, their managers are the first to point it out and celebrate a job well done. Building and growing a culture of respect has the power to transform a business. Weekly email blasts or a shared bulletin board are two great places to publicly shout out your employees. Be careful, however–everybody is different and some of your employees may prefer private praise. You can make this easier to navigate by simply asking them early how they like to be noticed. If you need to keep a record of your team’s recognition preferences, feel free to file that information away and refer back to it–along with other bits of information about their interests and personality that demonstrate your interest in them as individuals.
Foster Team Recognition
While it means a lot to get a kind note from the person in charge, the strongest teams are those that are strengthened from within. Employees in teams that value and respect one another stay longer than those that aren’t. Try to find some kind of industry term and a fun acronym to go along with it. For example, you could create a “GLASS Award” for your windshield replacement team to celebrate employees who “Glow Like A Shining Star” and allow them to recognize one another. These bonds go a long way in preventing workplace conflict and make people excited to come to work each day with people who value their contributions.
Help Them Gain New Skills
The average employee changes jobs twelve times during their life. They may even change careers five to seven times and this number is rising. While that statistic can be alarming for employers, it hides an important truth: employees are gaining new skills all the time and finding new opportunities to utilize them. When you encourage a growth mindset among your employees, you provide workplace challenges that 76% of workers crave. Take the time to provide mentorship for new employees to help them acquire important skills–and it’s even more effective when you are the mentor!
Make Room for New Ideas
There’s a growing trend in businesses large and small known as intrapreneurship. Companies that encourage entrepreneurial thinking within the organization take advantage of valuable insight from employees on the edges–the ones who do the day-to-day work and spend the most time with customers. When William McKnight instituted the 15% rule at 3M, creativity and innovation in the organization skyrocketed. He trusted his staff to think on the clock and bring new ideas to the team for exploration and review. Provide a forum for your employees to bring novel solutions forward. It’s been said that the smartest person in the room is the room. Let your employees share the work of innovation and they’ll see their ideas come to life–and stay to see the work through.
If you would like to know more about management in the windshield replacement industry with NOVUS Glass, please contact us today. You can reach us at our website or by phone at 800-944-6811.
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