Adding new team members is a great way to recharge your business and inspire innovation, but new talent won’t get you anywhere if you’re having trouble retaining top employees.
Employee turnover is bad for morale at every level of the company, and it’s bad for your bottom line. High turnover rates are an indicator that people are not happy in their jobs or in the company overall. So what is a boss to do? Simple: improve company culture.
Changing work culture is never an easy task. Especially in companies that have been around for a long time, culture can get ingrained and feel set in stone. Yet, it doesn’t have to be that way. The first step to improving company culture is to get a solid assessment of what your current culture is. Talk to leaders in every department and get honest feedback on how employees feel about their jobs, about each other, about their bosses, and about the company in general.
The most effective way to do this is through a company-wide assessment process. Level Up Leadership can help companies determine their current culture by performing an honest assessment that lets people speak freely about how they feel, then compiling that information into a helpful and informative report.
Once you have a sense of your current workplace culture, you can start taking steps to move forward. Below are just a few ways that you can work to improve your company culture with simple, actionable steps.
- Give your employees opportunities to recharge.
Take a look at how many unused vacation days your employees have at the end of the year. If the numbers are high, that’s a bad sign. People need opportunities to take meaningful vacations, attend seminars, further their education, and otherwise get healthy breaks that help them lead a more fulfilling personal and professional life. Some companies have found great success in not tracking employee vacation at all. Others offer excellent maternity and paternity leave options that today’s professionals truly appreciate.
- Find ways to recognize great work.
Whether you offer bonuses, merit-based salary increases, or quarterly pizza parties, find out what motivates your employees and ensure that they receive the recognition that they most appreciate and deserve. Little things as simple as taking the time to thank your assistant for their work at the end of each day can make a huge impact on the satisfaction that your employees get from their job.
- Create an employee review process that’s motivational.
Employees and employers alike often dread year-end reviews, but an effective review system should not be demoralizing. Reviews should be an opportunity for both employees and employers to provide honest feedback about the year or quarter past and to express goals and desires for the year to come. During reviews, give your employees a chance to voice their concerns and let you know what they want out of their careers. You might be surprised what you learn, and the results could help you retain top talent for years to come.
If you’d like additional thoughts on how implementing culture change can lead to higher employee retention rates within your organization, take the time to contact Level Up Leadership and speak with our consultants.
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