Recruiting and retaining good people can be hard for small businesses but attracting and keeping employees isn’t always just about the pay packet.
Here are our five top tips for how you can retain employees and incentivise potential candidates to improve recruitment and retention.
Tip 1: Invest in personal training and development
By offering employees training and development, you are demonstrating your commitment to providing them with opportunities. Employees can feel empowered with the new skills they gain, and you benefit from a positive team with expanding skills. Working in a business which encourages personal and professional growth is much more likely to retain staff.
For just £750 you can access a government-funded management training course, ‘Help To Grow’, run by leading business schools across the country. Find out more here.
Tip 2: Incentivise and drive success
You can incentivise employees in a tax efficient way by providing them with an option to share in the growth of the business through an Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI).
An EMI allows you to grant employees share options in the business. This naturally creates a shared interest in the success of the business and provides employees with a further monetary incentive to stay.
We explain more about EMIs here.
Tip 3: Add annual team strategy days to your calendar
Making time for an annual team strategy day gives both you and employees a chance to meet and share ideas, plans and vision for the business. It can help energise teams by enabling them to feedback and feel involved in the business and its values.
Employees whose values align with those of the company are more likely to have a higher satisfaction in their role and stay longer term.If you would like to find out how we could help support you, then please contact Sophia Maynell.
Tip 4: Recognise individuals
Regular appraisals or performance reviews provide a valuable opportunity for you and your employees to meet and discuss past, present and future goals, achievements, and needs. Employees appreciate your time and recognition.
A chance to meet one-on-one shows that you recognise everyone’s professional development and are allowing them a chance to feedback directly. It’s also a great opportunity for you both to lay out goals and track personal development over the course of their employment.
See our factsheet on how to get the most out of appraisals to help retain employees.
Tip 5: Offer mental health support
Life can be challenging, that’s both in business and outside of it. We’re humans, not robots. One in four people will suffer with mental health problems at some point. Consider training a mental health first aider in your business to offer support to those who might need it.
By breaking down taboos and showing employees that you recognise and support them as human beings, you’ll undoubtedly retain them.
Find out why and how you can implement a Mental Health First Aider here.
