Top talent is both a blessing and the bane for employers.
Hard to find - and even more difficult to keep - the best performers are the most sought after type of employee.
So many employers have put an incredible amount of money, time and effort into their recruiting strategy to find the perfect fit for each open position.
While recruiting techniques have evolved, retention (and engagement) strategies remain an untouched mystery to the modern workforce, leaving companies frustrated when trying to manage their turnover rates.
Research has been conducted and published showing that the needs of today's workforce have changed; people are more concerned with opportunity, growth and learning than they are with their years of service celebration or structured and rigid career trajectory.
With this knowledge, employers can easily implement retention strategies today to ensure that when their best employees walk out the door at the end of the day, that they're not walking into the doors of competitors.
Here are five simple engagement techniques to meet and stimulate the needs of your top talent: 1.
Meet Their Basic Needs Let's face it: your employees aren't interested in any of your retention methods if their base needs aren't being met.
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, no one can reach self-actualization before their physiological and safety needs are fulfilled.
How can you meet your employees' base needs? Simple.
Offer them a stable work environment with a market salary that allows them to live sustainably.
2.
Conduct Stay Interviews We're all familiar with Exit Interviews - and we're all familiar with reactive procedures.
Couple these items together, and you have inefficiency.
Conduct Stay Interviews instead with your team.
Not only will this philosophy enable you to have a better gage on your teams' needs, challenges and successes, but this open forum will also show your employees that their opinion are important.
3.
Create a Recognition Rhythm What's the opposite of a feedback desert? A recognition rhythm.
Don't underestimate the power of the 'thank you' and the impact of deeming results accomplishments for employee retention.
Regular recognition reinforces positive results, while making a person feel uniquely outstanding, approved of, and admired.
4.
Meet on a Regular Basis Being responsive validates employee performance and that's why follow up is a necessity to employee engagement.
Managers should exercise an open forum relationship between their employees, where follow up becomes habitual.
This can be created through weekly 1-on-1s, recognition education with management, and support sessions where employees can candidly share suggestions for process improvements.
Taking the time to meet with your team allows everyone to get aligned, making goals, expectations and results clear.
5.
Provide Career Advancement Opportunities Historically, a career was a way to support a family and household.
Today, a career is so much more.
Now, employees are more interested in career advancement opportunities than their salary.
They want to know that there is a unique career trajectory that supports ongoing learning and development.
Consider training your managers to become career coaches and help enable opportunities for your best performers.