Valuing and engaging staff is always a priority

As businesses across all sectors continue to navigate the ongoing changes in the world of work, the one thing that remains a constant is the need to create a meaningful and engaging workplace for our staff. Whether you are searching for talent or focused on retaining your key people, the culture and the work environment that employees experience on a day-to-day basis will determine their future with your organisation.

They say that the challenge to retain talent, especially your top performers, is always an issue, no matter what is happening in the wider economy, because good people can always find good jobs. And the current changes we are seeing around us, especially in the Tech Sector as well as in a number of other sectors, means that even in this time of job losses and restructuring, we need to have plans in place to retain our talent, especially our key talent.

This time last year, up to one in five employees were thinking about leaving their current roles. And we saw people changing where they worked, how they worked and even the roles they performed. Now society has even more uncertainty to add into how employees make decisions. So while we need to continue to keep a close eye on the pathway of Covid into 2023, the War in Ukraine, the challenges with supply chain, the distribution of goods, energy costs, interest rates and the availability of affordable housing, not to mention the management of our personal finances, employees in our organisations are still making significant life changes which means we must ensure we create the environment where they want to stay. As Richard Branson
once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to”.

So, as employers we must try to reimagine the employee experience to keep them engaged and motivated. There are three key elements to be considered when devising a retention strategy for your business.

Firstly, understand what your staff data is telling you. If you are unsure about what data to focus on, consider some of these information sources.

• Survey staff: Conduct staff surveys or short pulse surveys to gain the views of how staff feel about working in the company, what they are saying about the opportunity and the culture, and generally if they see a future career path for themselves. This gives you an insight into whether they are reluctant or enthusiastic stayers.
• Your performance management process: review your process to see if it is delivering for you and if you can identify any drop in productivity or performance standards of an employee. This can be a key indicator that all is not well in the relationship.
• Training and development: enquire and explore the ambition and motivation of your employees to invest in their personal development, skills development and overall, their interest in skilling themselves for the future within your business.

Secondly, look at your management practices and capabilities.

During this time of ongoing change, it is critical to support the key stakeholders in the employment relationship. This means that the relationship between a line manager and employee is often the catalyst for individuals to consider a change or explore alternative opportunities outside the organisation.

Management development is an ongoing journey and businesses should ensure there is annual investment in this area, particularly during a global crisis. Competencies and capabilities in these areas are critical such as:

• Regular, open and encouraging communications on a one-to-one basis as well as in teams.
• Investment in personal relationships. Getting to know and understand the individuals on the team and their passions and interests. About the job, life and their wider community.
• Capability to have meaningful coaching practices in place such as effective mentoring programmes, individual coaching for development, career progression models that are realistic and attainable.

Finally, look at the overall engagement of your employees. It is vital that you proactively empower, engage and grow your employees so that they stay for the experience and opportunity you can offer rather than staying because there is nowhere else to go, or they are unsuccessful in getting another job offer.

All the studies show that managers are among the greatest influencers of employee engagement, this is a critical success factor that cannot be ignored.

Engagement in the psychological and emotional connection employees feel toward the work they do, their teams and the organisation. Engaged employees have a direct impact on customer retention, on driving efficiencies, and on embracing change. Engaged employees tend to live and demonstrate the company’s values on a day-to-day basis and are excellent ambassadors for the company. Therefore, it is important that you have initiatives in place that will promote the engagement of staff and reward the right behaviours. that you are fostering an environment of progression and trust.

Fredericka Sheppard
MD & Co-Founder,
Voltedge Management Ltd

Let’s shift the dial and create a work environment where employees flourish, have meaningful work, are doing roles that make an impact, and where you are showing they are important by investing in them for the future. www.voltedge.ie

This Business Support article featured in the January/February 2023 issue of The Hardware Journal.