How to attract and retain the best staff

Regardless of the type of business or the size of the company, there is one thing they all have in common – the desire to attract and retain the best staff. Paying good wages was once enough to attract candidates of the highest calibre, but nowadays a generous salary alone is not enough, with potential candidates looking for a lot more than money and benefits. But as a business, what can you do to attract and, more importantly, hold onto their best employees?

There are a number of ways that businesses can attract the best staff to their company, and here we look at some of the methods that might just work well for you.

Build a company that everyone is proud to work for
It might sound obvious, but companies who treat their employees well are often the ones that people are keen to work for. Have fair policies that are applied consistently and benefits that will attract the calibre of employee you want to keep. If you treat people well, they will want to work for you.

Kindness works
Employees will always ask whether the company cares about them, and showing kindness is always a positive when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best talent. A great company will always work hard to find ways to display kindness to its workers.

Develop a mentor mindset
Most of our experiences of work come from the relationship we have with our boss, so try to ensure that they are more of a mentor than a manager. Managers will tend to focus on compliance and conformity whereas mentors care more about the journey the company is taking together and the individuals who will help them get there.

Improve the perks
Employee benefits play a huge role in the retention of staff, so it’s important to offer something that increases overall job satisfaction and makes their day-to-day job a bit more enjoyable. Knowing your staff and what motivates them is key in this area.

Don’t hold back on promotions
Make it clear that hard work and dedication won’t go unnoticed, and that promotion is always a possibility. Many employees are looking for ways to move up the career ladder, so make it clear that their next step could be taken within your business.

Offer as much freedom as possible
If you know your employees’ strengths and believe they can perform tasks without external help, then let them get on with it. Good staff work best when they’re given the freedom to do their job, so avoid micromanaging wherever possible.

Input and ideas
Employees appreciate being asked for their input and sharing ideas but if you ask for this, make sure you act upon them where appropriate too.

Create a fair and equal workplace
Retaining your best staff isn’t solely about how you treat them, it’s also about how they see you treating other employees too. To keep morale high, ensure that you treat everyone fairly and equally, thus creating a better atmosphere in which to work.

For Rosa dos Santos, owner of Exact Sourcing, retaining good staff is key to building and sustaining a successful business. ‘We all know that having the best employees is so important in terms of running a happy and successful business, but in today’s competitive job market, in can be difficult to hang on to them,’ comments Rosa. ‘Gone are the days when we could just offer them more money to stay because good people are now looking beyond their payslip to find other things that give them job satisfaction and to develop a sense of loyalty. As employers it is up to us to find the right incentives to encourage our top employees stay with us for longer. Listening to our staff and getting to know them as individuals is really important, as is making them feel valued and part of the team.’

Exact Sourcing is a recruitment agency in Cambridge and Newmarket, also serving Ely, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Royston and Sawston. If you’re looking to add to your team and need to find the ideal candidate, please do contact us for an initial conversation.

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