Long-term employee success benefits you, the employee, and the organization overall. In fact, the cost of replacing 1 employee is approximately one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary and that does not even take into account the morale cost. Thus, it’s imperative to guide employees for long-term success.
In further research by Gallup, 52% of voluntarily exiting employees stated that their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job. That’s half of all employees that leave! So what can you, as a leader, do to retain talent and morale?
The following are our top dos and don’ts for ensuring long-term employee success:
Do: promote autonomy
Do not: operate in a vacuum
Employees should not feel like they need your approval on every small move they make, but they also shouldn’t feel like they’re steering their own ships with no routes in place. Easy ways to establish this:
- Have regular check-ins (1-3 items per week, depending on team size and project breadth) for each project on the dockett, so that all employees can discuss the status of their projects.
- Establish thresholds by which employees have free reign (for example: level of discounts or leeway offered to clients)
Employees should feel empowered to make their own choices, but not feel so “free” that they actually fear making the wrong choice because they’re not guided at all.
Do: check in regularly with progress
Do not: wait until annual reviews
One of the top complaints of employees is a lack of recognition for what they do for the team, while one of the top complaints of managers is that employees simply don’t live up to expectations. The easiest way to cut this friction is to simply communicate – and communicate often. This way, the friction lessens regularly.
We suggest monthly check-ins – and they don’t need to formal, at all. These check ins are an excellent opportunity not just for you to discuss individual employee progress, but also to hear how the employee feels about the rest of the team – it allows for a temperature check across the board. Plus, your employees will feel heard and recognized!
Do: establish a safe space to voice concerns
Do not: become a complaints department
Employees need to feel as though they’re in a safe environment to bring light to issues that arise (otherwise problems can fester – these problems can range from personal conflict to business factors that are detrimental to everything from profit to security). However, there’s a fine line between being the babysitter and being the guiding manager; you must make it clear that you are an ally in helping your employees solve problems, but not the problem-solver yourself.
Position yourself as the manager that will hear out concerns, but only if and when the concerns are accompanied by a proposed solution or desire to work things through.
Do: communicate expectations
Don’t: expect employees to know what your standards, benchmarks, and KPIs are (even if they seem obvious to you!)
Imagine if growing up we had zero grading system in school (As, Bs, Cs, and the GPA score) – we’d have no benchmark to measure progress; no rule to measure our successes against. Failure to provide your employees with benchmarks of their work is a failure to provide guidance on all accounts.
Very often, especially when we hire managerial or more advanced positions, we can make the mistake of expecting them to be aware of “standard” metrics – but it’s important to be crystal clear on what your expectations are, such as growth rate (monthly, quarterly, and/or annually), sales volume (if applicable), and so on.
Further, providing these crystal-clear expectations from the start will allow both you (as the manager) and the employee to be on the same page when it comes to performance reviews.
Your employees are your second most important asset – second only to your customers. It is imperative that your employees feel valued, recognized, and guided in order for them to be motivated for the greater good of the overall team. Providing a space of communication, clear metrics, and guidance are key factors in ensuring long-term employee success and retention.