Are you worried about losing key employees this year?
A Right Management study says 83 percent of employees definitely plan to look for jobs this year, while 12 percent say they might and just 5 percent have no plans to look for new jobs.
This is bad news for your business, right?
Maybe not. Instead of getting in a lather trying to figure out how retain your current employees, look at the silver lining. This could be your chance to unload some deadwood…and attract new blood to your business.
1. Start Searching for New Employees
Of course you can post a want ad, but since many dissatisfied employees are searching on the sly, you’ll likely have better luck with more stealth methods.
Take full advantage of your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to find out more about people in your industry who are go-getters, up-and-comers…in short, your dream employees. Make connections and get to know a little about them.
Remember, even the 12 percent of employees who say they “might†seek new jobs can be swayed with the right offerâ€"so you’ll never know until you make that offer.
2. Hold Your Team to Higher Standards
Do you have slackers on your staff or employees who are coasting or not living up to their potential? Now’s the time to put their feet to the fire.
Consider holding more frequent performance reviewsâ€"not just annually, but quarterly. There’s ample evidence employees like getting frequent feedback, but providing reviews more often also benefits you. Instead of waiting a whole year to discuss nagging problems with a person’s performance, frequent reviews will spur you to get the issues out in the open so they can be dealt with.
You can set shorter time frames for improvement and move faster to let the person go if necessary.
3. Watch Your Team Fire Up
A little uncertainty isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Think about how you react when a key client has a shakeup or shows signs they’re considering letting you go. You do everything you can to keep them, don’t you? The same principle works for your staff.
When employees see that you are holding reviews more often, paying closer attention to performance, calling some employees on the carpet and perhaps even letting some go, even the good team members will start getting a bit nervous about job security.
However, that anxiety can be motivating as employees seek to earn your approval (and keep their jobs). Your top performers will get energized to do even better, while those poorer performers who don’t want to make the effort to improve will start job hunting. (If you’re lucky, you won’t even have to fire them because they’ll leave of their own accord.)
4. Reward Top Performers - But Know That Everyone Can Be Replaced
Don’t let your best employees dither too much about their job security. Your reviews should recognize them for going above and beyond. At the same time, know that they, too, may be searching for other opportunities.
Don’t bend over backwards to keep a key employee on board if he or she really wants to leave. I’ve learned many times as a manager that no matter how indispensable you think someone is, everyone can be replacedâ€"and sometimes, a dose of new blood is just what you need to reinvigorate your business.
