7 Easy Steps to Keep Great Employees
Employee retention seems elusive. It’s actually pretty simple.
It is hard to find employees right now. I mean, really hard. Everyday news outlets have feature stories about the labor shortage here in the US.
In California, the minimum wage is $14.00 an hour, so much higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. People that work in the service industry are just tired. Rightly so. There is a lot out there about why this is happening and what workers want. I am going to focus on retention. How to get people to want to stay working for you.
I have been a leader in retail management for the past twenty years. I have stepped into about ten different buildings and I have run numerous teams. The building I currently run I have been in for eight years. Right now we are building to a staff of 50 for summer. I have always made my hiring quotas. I currently have a full management staff built from internal promotions. There are a few key reasons. None of which are magic.
It’s all pretty basic
Don’t take advantage of people. I know, this sounds obvious, but employers treat their staff like trash a lot. Give people breaks. Give them lunches. Let them rest. In California, the state mandates a ten-minute break for every four hours worked. I give them one if they work three or three and a half. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. That ten-minute break is nothing to me, it is everything to them.
Many companies make their employees waive their right to meal periods. If the workers are young, they may have no idea what they’re signing. Then they have to work six hours straight with no breaks. That’s just not okay. One girl I worked with was a hostess at a large chain restaurant. She could not leave the hostess stand, not even for a bathroom break. She quit in less than a month. Why would you do that to someone? Are you trying to make them pay their dues? What for? They will quit.
Train people well. If people don’t feel set up for success, they will leave. Two weeks is a short window to learn all the things you are responsible for in a building as a manager. After that, they just get keys. Is that the best way? Maybe. It all depends on the person. Have the flexibility in your mind to change that when you need to. Give them an extra week of training. Have them trained in a different location. Whatever. Make it work so they will step onto your sales floor feeling successful. You want them to feel like the leader they are.
“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” — Richard Branson
Build your bench. When I promote someone, I have one or two people in mind that can move up behind them. I just promoted someone; I already know who will fill her spot when she leaves for school. When someone great leaves for another opportunity, I let them know I will reach out to them if I have something open that they may be a fit for. When I do, they come back.
Grant time off. I know, I talk about this one a lot. That’s because it’s really important. My Assistant Manager worked somewhere else. She asked for one Saturday off. They told her no. They said they had hired her to work on Saturdays. I guess that meant every Saturday ever. She eventually quit. You know what; she is fantastic! I’m so glad she came back to my store. (She was one of those that came back when I had the right position open).
Allow mistakes to be made. Without judgment. Without punishment. No one comes to work thinking that they want to do a bad job. Most mistakes are not a big deal. Managers forget to sign the deposit log, forget to clock out, or miss reading a memo. It’s fine. It’s not a big deal. I let them know what was missed and I move on. We are humans. I make mistakes every day. I’m not going to ruin their day over something small. Fear destroys innovation. Fear of getting in trouble or fear of losing your job. Remove some of that fear and your team will thrive.
Take suggestions from everyone. Yes, everyone. Just because someone is new or young doesn’t mean they can’t have a good idea. I have a sales associate that is really great. We were talking about how to make our rap-ins better (the info you get when you first come on to your shift). He had a fantastic idea that I’m going to use. He is seventeen years old. I can’t wait to put his idea into action!
Lead from the front. People don’t want to listen to someone that gives them direction from a backroom or office. They want their leaders to work alongside them. When you work next to your team, you can see where they struggle and where they soar. You can lend a helping hand, even if it is just getting shoes for them from the stockroom to help them with their customer. They will appreciate that more than you will ever know.
Takeaway
The reasons that I have been with the same company and in the same building for eight years are all the same reasons that I just listed that my employees stick around with me. It’s all the same. Store managers want the same thing from their District and Regional Managers as our sales associates want from us.
You can focus all you want on company culture but if the leaders of your brick and mortar buildings aren’t right, you will have a lot of employees turn no matter what.
Keeping a happy, productive team together is not magic, but it takes work and dedication. Your team is a family that you are building. Be honest with them, listen to them, work as hard for them as they do for you, and they will not be so quick to leave.