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It's no secret: this fall, good help might be hard to find. This fall, applications for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in 8 months. What does this mean? The pool of people looking for jobs is quite small, so companies face tough competition for top talent, or an investment in keeping their existing workforce intact. Employee retention is the name of the game as we head into Q4, and though it may sound daunting, we've broken it down into some key areas that need attention to ensure your team remains truly happy and healthy as you head into the new year.

5 Employee Retention Strategies that Work

Keep communication lines open.

No, like really open. Set expectations for everything from high-level goals to working hours and availability, and establish quick regular check-in meetings. Keep your employees in the loop when something's going on or there's trouble in the industry. Keep them in the loop when there's good news to share.

Not only should you emphasize your openness to feedback with your direct reports, but try a more consistent and less demanding format like pulse surveys or HR chatbots, which allow for short and casual surveys and are open for employees to report issues in anonymous mode. An additional step in a project timeline could include post-project feedback collection: what could be improved about the process next time around? 

Respect their time.

A broad statement that represents many other tips, boiled down to their core message: respect the time of your employees and they will be more satisfied. What exactly does this entail? Well, lots of things.

The first is to establish working hours and non-working hours. State them, share them, adhere to them. Working outside of these hours? Schedule your email for later. If you have flexible working hours overall, then set core hours people are expected to be available (they could be the middle of the day, like 10am-2pm EST, or could take place in both morning hours and afternoon hours, like 10-12pm and 1-3pm EST). Whatever works for your company – and hey, you can ask your employees – will do, just so long as you are setting boundaries that will allow people to protect their solitary work time and their home life. 

The second is to make sure their "on" hours at work are used as efficiently as possible. Meaning: solid deadlines, no unorganized meetings, and goals broken down into actionable items. Before you call a meeting, be clear on what's to be discussed, and prepare any needed information so minutes aren't wasted searching for documents or data.

Emphasize the importance of wellness. 

Job satisfaction is largely dependent on the vague measurement of "is this working for me?" Does it offer the flexibility I need? Does it offer the benefits that are important to me? Encourage the use of vacation days, offer understanding or time off when an employee is struggling, and learn (and teach others) the signs of burnout. Sticking to the set boundaries for work hours also displays a respect for the mental health and wellbeing of your employees.

Set a great first impression.

The onboarding process is a new hire's first interaction with the inside world of your company – set them on the right track, from the start. Educate them on their responsibilities and how they fit into the bigger picture, giving them ownership over their role. Put forth your company mission and values, and explain how you and your team achieves and monitors them. 

An interesting idea to try: pair all new employees with a "buddy," someone else who works at the company, at any level or in any department, to meet with them, grab lunch, or check in to see how their time is going. Having an acquaintance from the start is a powerful step towards feeling a part of an open and welcoming environment, and one in which there is already an ally. 

Encourage professional growth.

This can be done through the age-old practice of attending conferences, but also can be as simple as setting aside time for micro-development. An example: every Friday afternoon for one hour, members of your team are encouraged to learn something new related to their job. Some ideas that come to mind are learning a few new functions in Excel, watching an InDesign tutorial, or reading an article about the future of A.I. This freedom, with boundaries, allows for a break from work and an increase in knowledge, something workers today crave.

The simple act of asking your team if there's anything they'd like to learn more about can open floodgates to an invigorating work environment. Have them report back to each other, in order to keep the enthusiasm going.

Keeping a team satisfied is no easy feat, but making the effort is the first, and most important, step in ensuring your professional environment is one that retains employees. Try some of these suggestions, and let us know how it goes! 

Almost three years after the beginning of the world-altering COVID-19 pandemic, the ripple effects are finally starting to slow.

That's right: we're heading back to "the office." 

The recent past has seen workers maintaining hybrid and remote positions, encouraged by companies attempting to please their employees, appear flexible, and embrace the data that stated productivity was not lost.

But many of these companies have had enough. 

Long since mask mandates have been lifted, the draw of an office has returned, and with it a much stricter attendance policy. From a Microsoft Corp. survey of 20,000 people at companies around the world, only 12% of managers are fully confident that hybrid employees were productive. To management, a face in the workspace proves dedication, committing an employee to memory as an active and willing participant in company efforts. Even with a strong push from employees who refuse to abandon a hybrid work-life balance, managers are having doubts and reevaluating their work-from-home policies. Over two-thirds (69%) of small business decision-makers in a Capterra survey said they'd prefer their employees to be on-site three or more days per week. 

An office presence is not only preferred, but in many cases critical for a satisfactory job evaluation. According to a Capterra poll of more than 500 managers at companies with some in-office requirement, 74% plan to factor office attendance into employee performance reviews, with 46% of all managers saying they have docked or plan to dock pay or benefits from employees due to poor office attendance. 

So, what's the solution?

To us, the answer is as clear as it would be to quibbling siblings: compromise.

Employers

Newly established attendance requirements are largely due to doubts about performance, a lack of trust and transparency with their teams, and feeling out of touch with the day-to-day of your business. 

1. Understand why your team likes working remotely. Is it eliminating a commute? Working different hours? Tackling nagging home tasks when taking a computer break? Polling your staff to understand their preferences may give you amazing insights into company morale and direct you towards working together more effectively.

2. Establish time together, whether it's everyone in the office once a week, twice a month, or gathering outside of the office however often you like. Your team doesn't want to be required to come in at all as much as they don't want to be working in a half-full office if their days don't overlap with many coworkers. Setting up time for in-person meetings, encouraging office camaraderie, and having face-to-face check-ins is the ultimate way to satisfy your need for contact and their need for a sense of normalcy.

3. Request more information from your team. If your doubts linger in the area of productivity, it's simple: just trade the freedom of some work-from-home days with the requirement that you are updated more often. Or, set some stricter core hours to be worked each day, eliminating any guessing games about who is working when.

4. Practice what you preach. Expecting your employees in the office three days a week? Go in yourself three days a week (and no more). An everpresent manager puts pressure on your team to be in the office even if you've reached an alternative agreement. Abandon any notion that your absence "looks bad." It doesn't. 

Employees

Communicate, communicate, communicate. It may feel like overkill, but setting minds at ease is the name of the game on this side of the hybrid workplace debate. 

1. Set regular, clear expectations. Yes, you can do your job. We know that. In theory, your employer knows that. But without seeing you in person, the mind can wander into "what are they really working on?" territory. Give them the comfort of knowing what you're working on each week, and update if something is or isn't completed.

2. Be transparent. Having a slow week because of tech issues? Don't wait to be asked about it. Working set hours and need to run an errand? Mark it on your calendar. Management is free to make assumptions that you're covering all needed hours, but being forthcoming with any unexpected schedule changes eliminates any and all doubts.

3. Be proactive. Talk to your supervisor more than you typically would. Set up a shared document or section of your project management platform where you have weekly tasks, and notify your boss so they can check in on project statuses without interrupting your workflow. Initiate meetings or quick calls or check-ins just to ease their mind and provide context for them to report to higher-ups. An employee who takes initiative can be recognized in or out of a physical workplace, so less time in the office won't hinder your ability to be recognized. If anything, hybrid work will spur more digital proof of the work accomplished. 

Overall, this phase will be an adjust

Our last post discussed the best ways for employers to incorporate feedback, working to include an analysis/reflection step in their project cycles so employees can stay informed of their performance level and thrive in a communicative environment. Preparing comments upon project completion is a great opportunity for identifying problem areas and spotlighting employees' needs for improvement.

What if your workplace doesn’t value open communication and healthy, constructive feedback? Asking for it can feel needy or unnecessary. The truth is, however, that feedback is critical to your vocational growth and an important component of your professional relationship to management. Most importantly, you present yourself as a committed and passionate member of the team.

We've gathered some tips for getting the comments you need and implementing changes efficiently.

Ask. Ask again.
Request a meeting to evaluate your work upon project completion. Next time, request again. Keep asking until it becomes the norm. Your boss should consider these discussions to be an investment in the success of the company, and even if they don’t have time for a meeting, suggest a quick one or two sentences on an area that could be bettered.

Don’t get defensive
Teams are supposed to be collaborative and supportive of all members, so comments that come your way should be taken seriously and not personally. Pointing fingers at others while deflecting useful feedback yourself just perpetuates inefficiency. Take each piece of advice and assume it’s coming from a genuine place.

Make a point to be better
Feedback and suggestions are useless if they aren’t implemented, so with each new project, set a small goal based on past calls for improvement. Targeting your focus will better indicate the success of your efforts, streamline the process, and organize your goal into actionable steps.

Be ready with questions
If you get the sense that management can't devote the time for proper evaluation, keep it simple. Ask a very specific question to direct their comments - something like "How did my timing feel on this project?" or "Would it help if I _____ next time?" This way, you're not demanding much of their time but still demonstrating your dedication and making moves to better yourself.
Try these suggestions to begin making progress towards improvement your performance at work. Your employer will thank you in the long run. 

Evaluating your performance after completing a project is crucial to improving your professional skills. But, it's not always easy to take a step back and look at the successes and the failures objectively. How can you know what needs improvement without a proper system of assessment? And employers, how can you groom a lean, mean, productive machine without your team knowing what's working and what isn't?

Our best suggestion? Build a project cycle that includes feedback and analytics. You have brainstorm/kickoff meetings, right? Consider adding in conversations to wrap up the project, including employee reviews as well as project analytics. Having a system that includes feedback makes open and honest communication much easier, and gives both parties an opportunity to comment on the process and final product.

Use specifics
No vague mentions of "doing better" are going to prompt any changes. Just like your meetings should end with actionable items for each person, these conversations demand takeaway points for improvement, if there are any. If you can provide numbers of any kind, even better. This makes the feedback less subjective, and gives evidence that improvement can be measured.

Don't compare
In a performance evaluation, avoid pitting employees against each other. A team should be supportive of each other, and, as they say "comparison is the thief of joy." Keep your team happy and collaborative by steering the feedback towards their individual work, mentioning specific points relevant to their performance, rather than pointing out a fellow team member's successes or failures.

Welcome critique
Being open to employee comments will make your team immensely more available to receive your feedback. Communication is a two way street, and there's no reason to target employees as the sole owners of the success of a process. Besides soliciting comments, regularly request specific points for improvement from everyone on your team after every project, whether it applies to you as an individual or the company as a whole.

Remove their personality from the equation
Try to address the behavior that needs changing rather than judging a personality. It's challenging, for example, to avoid mentioning someone's ego when discussing their tendency to interrupt, but “Your frequent interruptions stifle candid conversation,” is a more constructive comment than “Check your ego at the door.”

Your team will greatly benefit from an established system of evaluation as well as an environment that is collaborative in its efforts to improve. Be open to suggestions, and be sure to effectively provide the feedback your team is looking for. Let us know how it goes!

43 out of 100 workers plan to look for a new job in the next 12 months, according to a recent study by global staffing firm Robert Half. Imagine what your company would look like after losing 43% of your staff, and join the ranks of employers who are "very concerned" about these findings.

Employing typical tactics like improving communication and bumping up employee recognition can help, but there are many other reasons a team member leaves for greener pastures. The reasons for professional departure range from psychological to monetary, but there are ways to retain some of your best hires without making massive changes to your company.

What make employees jump ship?

They want more money

Large debts – student debt, housing expenses, childcare expenses, car payments, and more – plague the budget of the average American, and higher salaries provide job satisfaction and peace of mind. The truth might hurt your company wallet: when it comes to retention strategies, better compensation is the clear frontrunner. The Robert Half study reports that 43% of workers leave a job for more money, with less than half of that number responding with the second highest reason:

... and more time off / better benefits

As one of the most overworked nations (with no mandated paid sick leave), it's no wonder that time off and decent benefits are heavily valued in the American workplace. Increasing vacation time, closing the office during the holidays, honoring summer Friday hours, or changing up your lunch policy are all small ways to boost morale and keep your people sticking around.

Work flexibility is becoming the norm.

More than three quarters of workers in a Crain's study say flexible schedules and remote work are the most effective non-monetary ways to retain talent. Allowing employees the freedom to work in a comfortable environment, avoiding a daily commute and working at their prime productivity throughout the day is an incredibly easy way to give your employees another reason to stay. It's not just good for your team, it's good for business - 85% of companies say productivity has increased due to greater flexibility.

There's no path for advancement

If you've hired any members of Generation Z, you might have noticed an uptick in expectations. A survey revealed that 75% believe they'll deserve a promotion after working in their position for only a year. Offering new job titles and setting a plan for career growth are potential solutions, but younger employees may just have different expectations that should be addressed directly.

Other generations feel similarly, seeking a need to feel "essential." Giving them ownership and control over their responsibilities along with a clear path for advancement results in a loyal and productive team.

They aren't learning

A third of employees who quit attribute it to lack of skill development. Workers want to contribute to companies who support their careers and professional development, so once they stop learning, you can count on an empty cubicle. Ambitious people have a growth mentality, so give them the opportunity to attend workshops or seminars and bring back some fresh ideas and enthusiasm for your industry. Retaining top talent means allowing the space for professional as well as personal growth.

They want a new boss

You've heard the saying: people don't leave companies, they leave managers. A boss with seemingly small bad habits can have a massive effect on the success of your business, so take a look in the mirror and make sure you're prioritizing team satisfaction.

We'll touch more on this topic in our next blog post, but until then, take these tips to heart and keep your top performers right where they belong – on your team!