If you can’t manage the demands of the peak season well, you can’t expect your team will be able to handle the pressure any better. Fail to make use of some employee retention strategies, and you will see yourself saying goodbye to them before long.
With the busy season approaching for many industries, businesses can’t afford to let any of their staff go.
Employee Retention Strategies to Help Survive the Busy Season
Here, we’re going to look at some effective strategies to help you keep hold of your team for longer.
1. Ensure Compensation is Fair
First of all, you have to keep their salary and benefits competitive or they will start exploring other employment options. This shouldn’t be something than any employer should be surprised to hear.
If you’re not compensating your employees fairly, expect them to be gone before too long. Someone will likely make them a better offer eventually.
Start by looking at the rates offered by other employers in the business to get a foundational idea of what they could be making elsewhere. If you’re looking for anything other than the bare minimum labor, you should be offering more.
2. Improve Your Hiring Process
A lot of the issues that can lead to problems with retention, such as being a poor fit for their responsibilities or not gelling with the rest of the team. It can be easy to catch these issues much earlier if you do your due diligence during the hiring process.
If an employee has an employment history seeing them in a new company every 6 months, that’s a big red flag that you can’t expect them to stick around for too long.
It’s not just about finding the right person for the job, either, however. Part of hiring is onboarding, and a failure to fully help new employees learn what to expect from their workplace and their role can see them leaving prematurely or causing disruptions within a team.
3. Find Their Pain Points
If you think that all you owe your team is money in return for their work, then you are never going to be able to understand why employees leave.
Caring about their work-life balance and what gets in the way of it is just as good for your business as it is for their well-being.
Pushing overtime or expecting flexibility from them while never being flexible yourself is going to turn the job into “the enemy” in the very near future.
If you notice burn out, try giving them the option to leave early on Friday or come in late on Monday. You can also award additional vacation days to those who have been working really hard.
If the issue is with communication and cohesion, you can coordinate team-building events that will help improve those problems.
(Recommended Read: Corporate Team-Building Activities That Employees Will Actually Enjoy)
Sometimes their pain points aren’t as easy to spot. If that’s the case, implementing a feedback system or surveys can help you better learn what you can do to retain them in the future.
4. Find the Right Leaders
Often, it’s not the people at the very top that can have a disconnect with their employees, but the direct managers.
Often, it may seem hard to pick out good leaders, and you can end up with bosses who take on a dictatorial stance, who take credit when things go right but will pass the blame the second something goes wrong.
You need to find the leaders, not just bosses for your team. Don’t worry about whether or not it seems like they have the right authoritative attitude. Do they seem to have a good sense of direction for their work? Can they handle challenges? Do they have attention to detail when it comes to work quality? Do they work well with others? These are all the qualities you should be looking for.
(Recommended Read: Want Inspired Employees? Hire A Coach Not A Manager)
5. Keep Your Team Engaged
Your team is a lot more likely to stay at a workplace that they actually care about. This ties, in part, to their pain points, and how implementing a feedback system can help address them.
Being asked for their input and opinion can give employees a clearer stake in the business that they’re a part of.
Besides getting them involved in the conversation, learn what motivates them to come to work in the first place. Are they aiming for career advancement or learning opportunities? Are there certain tasks they’re extremely good at within their role?
Give your employees the opportunity for the kind of success that motivates them, and you will see them invest a lot more of their energy and time in the business.
One way you can keep employees motivated and engaged is to implement effective incentive programs. For example, if you have sales goals that you want to meet during your busy season, offer a trip to your team after those goals are met. Click here to learn more about corporate travel incentives.
6. Ensure They’re on Board with Your Mission
Part of having your team stick around when things get a little chaotic is ensuring that they actually understand the goals and objectives that they’re playing a role in.
All too often, there’s a severe disconnect between the work they do every day and the direction that the leadership is supposed to be taking them towards. This is often because managers, leaders, and business owners do not effectively communicate those goals in detail.
Help your team understand how their own efforts contribute to the long-term success of the business. In turn, if they’re on board with the brand and you’re likely to see them become a lot more motivated, engaged with their work, and invested in the direction of the company itself.
7. Make Them Feel at Home
Lastly, if you want people to stick with your company, then you need to consider whether or not they have a bond with their colleagues or the workplace.
You can’t force a connection, but you can help individuals foster them by providing them with shared break spaces, by hanging out with them occasionally after work with a company-paid meal or drink, or by arranging employee appreciation events.
The same kind of loyalty can be built with the workplace if they’re allowed to listen to their own music or decorate their desk or office the way they want. If they have that connection, it gives them one more reason to stick around and be engaged with their work.
Start Using These Strategies Today
Hopefully, the above points show you at least a couple different employee retention strategies you can start using ASAP. If they don’t work, it might be time to take a closer look at the company culture as a whole, and how much your team is truly welcomed, listened to, and respected. Don’t expect them to stick around if you don’t give them good reason to.
If you would like to learn more about planning team-building events, creating an incentive program, or putting together an employee appreciation event, contact the experts at MTI Events at
