At the end of the day, good people leave because they don’t want to stay, said Tom Hudgin, president of Wilmington Quality Associates. at a Hardscape North America session. Employee retention is more complicated than that, but the key takeaway is that you need to create an environment where people want to be.
Hudgin said there are six main reasons people quit their jobs:
1) An unfriendly work environment
2) A lack of effective leadership
3) A lack of recognition
4) They don’t feel supported
5) They’re treated unfairly
6) They’ve been passed over for a promotion
“Contrary to what most people think, people don’t stay because they’re getting more money,” he said. “If people are dissatisfied, money isn’t going to buy happiness.”
Hudgin said that about half of your employees will leave your company in the next five years. “They think there are greener pastures,” he said.
To keep your best employees on the team, follow these five ground rules:
1) Everyone is a sales person
2) Everyone is equally valuable
3) Everyone wants to be a master at something
4) Everyone needs to be caught doing something right
5) Everyone should be encouraged to share his or her own ideas
“It makes your team feel important, motivated, excited because you’re asking them for help and respecting their thoughts,” Hudgin said.
People need to feel like they have a purpose. They need to know what they do and why they do it. And they need a leader – someone who is a visionary and plans years down the line.
“People who are on top are those who have a dream,” Hudgin said. And you should share that dream and vision with your employees so that they know what they’re working for.
Set goals and objectives, Hudgin says, and make it ok for people to make mistakes. Give employees rewards when they achieve goals and when they make mistakes, don’t berate them, but tell them you know they can do better.
Allow them to explore and be creative, invest in training and plan for both successes and failure, he said.
Here’s how he said you can motivate your employees:
- Show them respect and appreciation
- Five them a chance for promotion
- Get them to trust and respect their supervisors
- Have clear expectations
- Provide time frames that are reasonable
- Provide challenges
- Provide feedback often
- Minimize repetitive work
- Encourage them to think for themselves
- Don’t micromanage them
- Treat them fairly and don’t play favorites