For small companies, it has become a significant challenge to retain top talent as the market for digital skills has grown enormously. Big/Grown organizations have a competitive edge over small businesses as they can pay more to attract top talent. Still, for smaller companies, there are generally budget constraints they have to offer a moonshot to retain and attract new talent.
Millennials are prone to switching from organization to organization depending upon benefits offered, gone are the old days when people could not think of switching. Now the world is connected, and opportunities are more vivid than ever. Here I will talk about the steps small businesses can take to attract and retain good employees to keep their growth on track.
Millennials and Generation Z workforce’s dominant characteristic is they are not just drawn toward money; instead, they also look for the working conditions and environment offered at some specific workplace. This is where smaller organizations can gain an edge over their bigger competitors as smaller organizations tend to be flexible and can offer more in terms of work/life balance.
Let’s dig deeper into finding out what are the key points which can be used to prevent losing your top employees to multinationals.
Continuous Learning and growing
For smaller organizations, it is easier to provide mentorship to their employees directly. This helps the organization in having a diverse skill pool, as well as employees, feel more content when they are offered learning opportunities within the organization. The new generation is more toward growth than just earning a higher amount. They want to be more current in what they do by continually improving and increasing their skill set.
Many employees work on their skill set in their time. Still, if you provide them with this opportunity under the organization umbrella, then it is highly likely that they will stay with you for much longer than they had.
Flexible work-life
Who does not look for a job which offers perfect work/life balance? Providing flexible timings, work leaves, and working from home are all options that can be availed. These offerings, such as working from home, also gives employee sense that his organization trusts him. If they found that their job fits in life perfectly then for sure, they would think of all those perks before looking for some other opportunity, which offers them just a higher pay scale.
Share success with them
It is always recommended to share your business blessings with your employees, especially those who take an extra step into achieving the company’s goals. If some of your employees goes an extra mile into performing his/her duties, then you must reward generously. Everybody notices something extra, and when they come to know that the company’s success is not just of its own but they would also get a share of it on playing a prominent role in making some success a reality.
Appraising your extraordinary performers with profit-sharing rewards, keep them intact and loyal with the organization as they start considering organizational success as their own.
Creating a welcoming and positive culture
Great entrepreneurship guru Gary Vaynerchuk who I follow, said: “That there is nothing more important than the culture at hand.” He stated it pointing out at the brilliant jerk’s organizations keep to gain results.
I have personally witnessed that if people are not provided with the great culture at work, then the first ones to leave are the ones who are good people. Negative energy within the organization travels faster than we assume, one person talks to another and another to some other. Robert Half went to the extent where he mentioned in his research that as much as 35% of people would not even join an organization if they do not buy into the culture.
Employees have a greater impact over organizations than generally, organizations assume, this can be easily understood through this quote of Richard Branson
“Take care of your employees, and they will care of the clients.”
Respect Individuality
Each employee is a different individual, and each one has their own priorities, respect those, and try to provide flexible perks/benefits to employees. The major benefit which smaller organization enjoys over the big organization is its ability to adapt faster with flexibility. Smaller organizations can avoid red tape as they have smaller strength of employees. Grown organizations, it is incredibly hard to adapt fast, and this is where smaller businesses can gain an edge.
Making their job easier
Making employees’ jobs easier is a big factor which most of the organizations miss. Try to make people’s jobs easier be it through automation or some tool access. There are numerous applications in the market for free as well, and if you explore most probably, you will find many solutions that could replace paid tools offerings such as free live chat app for live chat.
Focus on team building
Team building is a much bigger asset. It is generally anticipated, so if you can make intelligent people work together over a similar goal, then you are in the right direction. Fools can work together, but it is harder for smarter people to work together. There are many measures that can ensure building happy and successful teams such as
- Create a common goal
- Hire the right skills and a good attitude, people
- Define goals and roles clearly
- Keep proper check and balance of accountability and activities
- Strategically organize team get together activities
Conclusion
Smaller Organizations tend to struggle a lot in retaining talent. This precise and clear guide is to help them retain their top talent. The major points that are discussed in this article are what steps and perks smaller businesses can offer, such as flexible schedule, amazing culture, and profit-sharing to retain their outstanding resources. More prominent organizations have a competitive edge over smaller firms in terms of financials. Still, they also enjoy strengths such as flexibility and faster adaptability, which, if they leverage, can play as their strengths in attracting and retaining good talent without offering moon shot along with getting into a never-ending war of resources.
