Keeping (Re-Recruiting) Your Best Employees

Have you ever had occasion to sit in your office and contemplate your department?  If you’re lucky, you take a satisfying deep breath, nod to yourself and say “I’ve got a great team.  They make the department look good and my job a whole lot easier.  I need to let them know that.”

Then you get sidetracked with a phone call and another project.  You forget about your introspective moment until…

Someone turns in their resignation.  Oh, they have great reasons, better pay, better hours, better opportunities – you’ve heard them all.

That’s when you sit at your desk and say to yourself – why didn’t I let them know how valuable they were to me?

It’s called re-recruiting your best people – keeping them happy, motivated and engaged in their work.

Here are some reasons why this is important.

• Options:  In today’s market, excellent employees can easily find new opportunities.  They tend to be more skilled, experienced and reputable and others outside your organization see this.
• Outside Recruiters:  How many calls do you get in a month from recruiters looking at you?  Your key employees are being contacted just as you are.  With the expansion of social media, outside recruiters have more access to potential candidates.
• Engagement:  Everyone eventually falls into a rut – some experts say as little as 18 months on a job.  Many employees seek new projects to keep them engaged.  If you aren’t offering it, someone else will in the form of a new job.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways you can lose your employees even if you do everything right.  Here’s some easy to implement things that will keep your employees engaged and motivated – and, for the most part, all it costs you is a little time.

• Thank You:  Such a simple phrase – yet it carries huge paybacks.  Acknowledge their efforts, the job and even their attitude.  Be specific and most of all BE SINCERE.
• Individual Meetings:  Schedule one-on-one time with each of your staff, hopefully weekly or monthly.   During the meetings, ask what they need from you to produce the results you expect.  Talk about their career development and what you can do to help them advance.  If this sounds time consuming, consider how much time you would spend in interviewing and selecting a replacement.  Invest a small percentage of that and you might be amazed at how far it goes in retention.
• Development:  If one of your staff is interested in advancing their career, special projects or committees may be the answer. This offers opportunities for them to expand their understanding of the organization and introduce them to other departments.  Perhaps it’s a mentorship they would like.  If that’s the case, it doesn’t have to be you, it can be another manager or supervisor.
• Be Flexible:  In today’s electronic environment, it’s easy to be flexible.  Working from home isn’t for everyone, but if a family member is sick or your ride to work has malfunctioned or the weather is bad – knowing your employees have options makes the job much more attractive.

“An employee’s motivation is the direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager”

Bob Nelson

Berni Hollinger helps companies solve problems through patterns. As a Professional Quilter and CFO / Controller, she sees things differently. As a highly experienced CFO, Controller, Accountant, and Financial Consultant, she has led financial departments for Fortune 100 companies increasing bottom line growth and compassionately leading and training employees and restructuring processes to maximize profitability in the publishing, printing, subscriptions / fulfillment, manufacturing and transportation sectors. She is a Professional Quilter, and Quilting Instructor, creating lasting memories through exclusive designs of one-of-a-kind memory quilts.

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