More than ever, it is important for your employees to have positive work experiences. People have many more resources to find new work today, and with so many people willing to find the “right fit” it can be quite expensive for organizations. While the best way is always to compensate people well, if you are facing a situation where you need to be creative to keep your people around, we have three suggestions. 

Just How Expensive is a High Turnover Rate?

You may not think that the process of hiring and training new employees has a large price tag, but if you consider that new employees are going to be much less productive as they get up to speed (if they do), it’s probably going to cost you more than you’d like to onboard new talent. Some studies have put this number at 1-to-1.5 times the position’s salary for a worker that has been with your organization for five years. This number increases the more responsibilities the employee has. That’s a lot of money to spend just to get a fraction of the productivity. 

Suggestions to Help You Build Positive Work Experiences

We should preface this with a fact: You’re not always going to please everyone. Having a couple of people that are questionable (or bad) fits for your business jump ship is going to happen. That said, there are some things that an organization can do to make their workers’ experience more meaningful. Here are a few:

Set a Clear Mission and Stick to It

One of the most frustrating things for employees at any business is when things take huge shifts without much notice. That includes hiring/firing people, operational changes, and policies and procedures that are not well thought out or enforced. This is not just an employee/employer problem, this is an organizational problem. For the good of your business, identify your organization’s long term goals and don’t change them. Sure, you will have to alter some things in the short term to react to market changes, but overall, the people that work for you should know what all their time and effort is being used for. 

Embrace People’s Ideas

No one knows your business better than the people that work on it. You might find problems with this, but the whole picture can be painted by your staff if you just listen. By giving your employees a voice, you will gain more insight than you could ever hope to through analytics. They not only will give you their perspective in regard to their jobs, they will also let you know about the inefficiencies that keep them from being as productive as they’d like. People typically like to be a part of something special, so the more they are involved in the overall process that goes into decision making, the more positively they will view their work experience. 

Encourage Work Relationships

We’re not talking about encouraging your workers to date, but there is no reason your workers can’t be friends. Without a doubt, people want to work alongside people they respect and like. Of course, co-workers are always hit or miss. The more a business can create situations where friendships and relationships can develop, the more actual teamwork you are going to have. Some of the best ways to do this is to conduct personality assessments and then try to assign work that will have like-minded people working with each other. Not all people will fit together, but for the most part the more people can relate to their co-workers the more their work will be improved and the happier they will be working alongside their peers. This is an indispensable thing in a workplace where a lot of things are boiled down to dollars and cents. 

Your business is not just your products and your services. It is all the people that make up the ability to fulfill your customer’s needs. At 415 IT, we can help build the technology that can help foster positive work relationships and keep your employees working for you. Give us a call today at (415) 295-4898 to learn more.