Retaining Great Employees During a Recession is Important, Too
By: Dr. Debi Yohn
It's always important for employers to hire the best people they can possibly fine for the jobs they're offering. The hiring process is expensive and time consuming, and during a recession, companies cannot afford to replace poorly chosen employees. More importantly, employers must also do everything they can to retain the top employees they already have.
In his article, Retaining Talent During a Recession, Aaron Green addresses the importance of taking care of the best employees when economic times are hard. Morale drops when people see their colleagues and friends getting laid off, when companies implement hiring freezes and discontinue giving bonuses in order to cut costs. Employees who no longer feel good about the companies where they work are susceptible to recruiters who come armed with the promise of bonuses, bigger salaries and other perks that are especially enticing in an economic downturn. Keeping their best employees happy is the best way for employers to get them to stay put even when recruiters come along and try to woo them away.
The consensus among the experts I recently queried is that showing employees that they're appreciated and keeping them well informed about the changes the company is going through are the primary ways to ensure that they will not want to cut and run the moment someone comes along with a better offer.
"Employees want to feel like their employers care about them, offered counseling psychologist, Dr. Debi Yohn. "Does the employer care about their career paths? Does the employer care about them as individuals? Employees want a sense of 'fairness'. It is important for employees to feel like they are treated equally and fairly. This is where it is important to follow policy and procedures. Employees are always making note of others that get something they have been denied. They can very quickly become discontented. The work environment is important to employees. Is the work space pleasant? Clean? Organized? Is there a sense of belonging? A sense of being on a team? Are their voices heard? Are the correct people being rewarded? Often, there is an employee who is a worker bee and who makes superiors look good. Is this recognized?"
"All the above are issues that employers need to be aware of," Yohn cautioned. Often they cannot give their employees the top salaries but they can give them clear career paths (good mentoring); fairness in supervision; a positive, pleasant work environment; and proper recognition. If the employees look forward to coming to work and know there is a good future for them in a company that cares about them, they will think twice before 'jumping ship.'"
Here are a few ways employers can keep top talent," said career coach, Derrick Hayes:
"1. Pay them market value. Use the concept that sports teams use to keep players from going to others teams.
2. Offer more in the beginning with a non-compete clause at the end.
3. Be open and honest with the direction of the company.
4. Develop an employee entrepreneurship program where the comapny invests into ideas that employees create."
"Retaining talent is critically important," said career coach, Dwain Celistan. "It is also a fantastic way to attract new talent. One of the best ways to retain talent is through the environment that is created. Most employees depart a company for reasons other than money. It is usually the bosses and the climates that they create. Thus, working on creating and reinforcing the right environment would be a great place to begin. From a process standpoint, this could begin through surveys of employees. More important than the survey are the actions taken by the organization based on the feedback. Listening to and acting upon employee input are fantastic first steps any organization can take, regardless of size or industry."
Finally, Red Recruiter, Michael Long had this to say, "If a company wants to keep their employees, they need to make sure that the managers are inspiring their employees. Sounds cliche, but I find it extremely easy to recruit people who don't like their direct leadership."
It seems everyone agrees that job satisfaction far outweighs money when it comes to an employee's decision to stay with or leave his current employer.
According to Sharon Daniels in her article, Retaining Top Employees is Critical in a Recession, talent retention isn't just an American issue, but a global one. Like our experts, Daniels advocates providing a pleasant work environment, giving employees ample recognition, and a healthy work/life balance. She further advises providing career development options when monetary compensation isn't possible because this will help employees to perform better and go further in their careers.
Employers who want to maintain workforces of highly skilled and qualified people will have to, at least, provide pleasant work environments, show recognition for jobs well done and be open with employees about what's going on in their companies if they want to keep them from being lured away by employers who will provide all those things and more.