BUSINESS
Employee retention in small businesses
If you sit in a group of small business owners for a couple of hours, chances are that conversation will at some point turn to shop talk and the common challenge, regardless of which industry they are in, is human resources. I have heard all kinds of stories and had my own experience with employees.
When I think of the challenge of keeping employees, I often think of one of the jokes of US comedian Chris Rock, in the early days of his career. The joke was that a man is never as attractive to a woman as when he has another woman in his life. When the man is single and out searching for a mate, no one gives him a second glance, but the minute a woman decides to take him in, brush his teeth, put him in a clean shirt, and generally tidy him up, all the other women start falling over themselves to be with him.
It is the same thing with employees, especially those new in the job market. You employ a young person and often they come to you very rough around the edges because they have either just graduated or have not had any challenging positions since they left school. After a few months under your tutelage, you’ve put them through their paces, given them opportunities to learn and grow, and opened up a new world of possibilities for them, and you are happy for a while, but your happiness is threatened by the employee poachers on the prowl, and the bigger opportunities your once rough employee can now shine in. I have had situations where I unwittingly offered my employee to the would-be poacher – sending them on missions to the poacher’s office in fulfilment of collaborative work or some other reason.
I do not mind when employees leave; I do not want to be the enemy of anyone’s progress. People will move for whatever reason – financial, personal, strategic – and it should be expected. What I do mind is people not being considerate when they move. I have had a situation where I got a call on a Friday afternoon (I had not gone into the office that day) from an employee who informed me that he had been offered a position at a law firm, the kicker was that he was starting the following Monday. Essentially, I had no notice. I was upset with the employee for his short notice, but I was also upset with the decision makers at the law firm because they were not strangers to me. You almost feel a sense of betrayal from both parties, but the truth is that no one cares about your business but you.
A few years ago, a young friend of mine reached out to me in frustration; he wanted to see me to discuss the difficulties he was having with staff retention. On the day we met, another entrepreneur friend of mine was visiting, which was perfect. The first question that my young friend asked was, ‘Aunty K, how do I keep my staff from leaving?’ My other friend and I both laughed and gave him our sincerest thoughts from experience – you cannot keep staff from leaving. The best you can do is to provide a good working environment and create a structure that can absorb the shock of an employee’s unceremonious departure.
Often employees will move to take advantage of better paying opportunities. When big businesses want to retain talent, they can afford to match whatever salary and/or benefits are being offered on the outside. As a small business or law practice, you cannot afford to do that and you probably should not try. You’ll knock everything else off-kilter trying to keep up with paying salary that the business cannot afford.
Years ago when I worked in the Business Development office of the largest home health care agency in New York City, there was a woman in the department who was good at what she did but was the most unreliable employee in the department. I don’t remember exactly why she was ‘indispensable’ but I do remember that whenever she was unhappy, she would not show up for work for a couple of days and before we could blink, she would be offered another pay rise. As expected, this caused disaffection between the rest of us and management.
All this is not to say that you throw your hands up in the air and do nothing. You try by doing the following:
- Offer the best compensation/benefits that your business can afford;
- Foster employee development through trainings, support with educational advancement, etc;
- When new opportunities become available, as much as possible, promote someone from within to fill the position;
- Create open lines of communication with your employees so that they all know what you expect of them, and they can also give feedback about their challenges on the job and outside the job, and also give their ideas about how to grow the business;
- Have a reward scheme based on performance, number of years with the business, etc. While I was at the home health care agency in New York, I received a couple of Above and Beyond the Call of Duty (ABCD) Awards that came with a US$100 government bond certificate. Performance contests between employees can also help to motivate them and keep them excited about their work.
- Be aware of how the office runs, who the service and product vendors are, outstanding projects/cases/issues, etc., even where tasks have been delegated to others, so that if someone takes off one day, your business can still carry on without too much disruption.
If after all your efforts at retention someone wants to move on, do not take it personal. We all desire change at some point in our lives and our paths may once again converge in the future, for mutual benefit.
