Business owners are frequently coming to us with the same struggle: hiring and retaining the best of the best. As the employer you need to be active and engaging to keep top performers content. Here are some of the things that top the list of what employees want from their ideal workplace, so that you can retain your existing talent:
Communication
As an employee, nothing can make you unhappier than being left in the dark. If you are a boss who likes to command an air of mystery, you could be excluding some of the best talent from your ranks. Do yourself the favor of opening up the channels of communication and keeping your team focused on and informed of your long-term goals.
Team Spirit
Speaking of team, employees enjoy team spirit in the workplace; a sense of camaraderie. You don’t want your best employees working against one another in the hopes of currying favor. That’s not what employees want either. If they don’t think they can go to their partners in the workplace, bounce ideas off of one another, and get feedback to make your product/service better, they are not going to offer their best ideas. Set up processes and rewards that promote teamwork and innovation.
Work/Life
Another workplace reality employees want is the ability to have a work/ life balance. If you are demanding that team members show up all the time in spite of graduations, funerals, child births, and holidays then you are only going to have a certain type of employee. If it’s not vital for an employee to be at their desk 100% of the time, then you want cultivate a spirit where employees don’t feel they’ll be punished for asking for time off when they need it.
Recognition
What employees want, maybe more than anything, is the ability to do work well and be recognized for it. Junior employees in particular need to be reassured when they’re performing well. If your company is big enough to have some type of employee satisfaction ambassador (human resources) that can show you’re truly dedicated to keeping your employees happy. But if you can’t, you should set aside a time once a year, once a quarter or whenever else makes sense to publicly appreciate the contributions of your employees.
Advancement
A final component to what employees want in the workplace is the ability to move up in the ranks. As your company does better so too should your employees. If your employees are doing their best to try and move your company forward and are putting forth their best efforts, they are going to need new challenges or they are going to move on. Top performers crave new challenges and learning opportunities to continually develop professionally
By focusing on these five components of what employees want, you’ll turn this work utopia into a reality!
