Good Employees—How to Keep Them

Q. Now that the economy is on an upswing, I’m getting a little worried about keeping our best people. We’ve had to downsize and ask everyone to put in extra hours and it’s been hard on everyone. The other managers and I are concerned that these good employees may start looking for other jobs as companies step up their hiring. We can’t give them more money right now, so what can we do to keep them? —Janet S.

A. You’re right to be concerned, but you have a lot of options. And there’s a limit to what you can do by giving people more money. It’s easy to get used to an increase in salary, and within a few months people can start wondering when they’re going to get even more. But there are many things you can do to make good people want to stay with your company.

Update Your Benefits.

Take an inventory of your employee policies and benefits and make sure they’re still competitive. Sometimes in the crush of trying to survive, policies can become outdated. Find out what other companies—especially your competitors—are doing, and make sure you’re at least on a par with them.

Cement Your Relationships.

Talk to your best people honestly. Tell them how much you value them and ask if there are changes they think should be made. You have to pour “cement” over your relationship with them and make sure it’s permanent. One kind of cement is financial— in the form of stock options, retirement plans with matching employee funds and early vesting, long-term and performance bonus incentives, added perks and benefits. And give them freedom to choose the kinds of financial benefits you can offer, rather than maintain total control of an employee’s financial and benefits package.

Another kind of cement is job responsibility and freedom. Employees who are highly competent also usually need to feel that they have the right level of responsibility assigned to them. Good employees need autonomy. They need to know that they’re working to their full potential, and that they feel fulfilled in their work.

Keep a 4:1 Ratio

The best cement is praise and recognition. It’s the most valuable way to motivate but often the one that managers use least often. Use a 4:1 ratio of praise to criticism—with every employee, every day. Many managers think they praise their people enough, when actually the opposite is true. Want to find out if you’ve established a 4:1 pattern of praise and reinforcement? Ask yourself, “How would _____react if I asked him/her to drop by the office to discuss a few things?” If the employee is likely to be excited (because he knows he’ll probably get more praise and reinforcement) your positive pattern is in place.

But if the employee shows any concern, maybe you should take another look at how often you praise people.

Keep Them Challenged. Good employees need job challenges. When they don’t have much say in how a job is done, they lose interest. And they’ll start looking elsewhere for job satisfaction. It’s better to be proactive in changing your procedures to keep people enthusiastic—than be forced to change because good people are leaving. You challenge your people with—

• Tasks in which they feel confident of their skills and their success

• Assignment to more important projects

• Work that takes them into new areas

• Greater input into their own assignments—and more autonomy

• Tasks that require a number of different skills and talents

Share Your Leadership.

How about assignment some of your management duties to some key people—treating them as leadership partners—such as assignments to decision-making committees? Or ask them to prepare proposals for restructuring a policy or product, something you’d ordinarily do yourself? You might rotate your best people in the role of department meeting facilitator, letting them share your leadership responsibility.

More Freedom?

Good people what more autonomy; the opportunity to do a job from beginning to end without interference, and with a visible outcome. They want work that will make a substantial impact on others, and less time on the technical details. How about giving them freedom to rotate among different kinds of higher-level jobs? This can increase their understanding of how the department works, while easing your own burden. What about more time off, or more flexible work hours? The opportunity to work at home part of the week? They may have been putting in 60-hour weeks, and need a breather.

Best bet: talk to them personally and honestly. Tell them they’re appreciated and ask what else you might do for them to show your appreciation±—not just for today, but for the long haul.