Attracting & Keeping Top Talent in Your Business
Think you can't compete with large corporations to attract and keep the top talent? Think again. There are many reasons employees will forgo larger corporate salaries and benefit packages to work at a small business.
Here, expert advice on how to make the most of small business attractions and some suggestions on affordable benefits and rewards that will enhance employee satisfaction, and help you keep your top performers. Sell the attractions and assets of working in a small business. These are all benefits for employees:
The environment:
Smaller staff numbers translates into a higher degree of camaraderie both in the work place and after hours, something many employees find attractive. So often they're doing a lot of different tasks, so they're pulling together to get things done. That inspires camaraderie that goes beyond work. It's a work hard, play hard kind of thing. And it also reflects the fact that many people are at small firms because they really believe in what they are doing there. So the identity runs deeper than just going to work.
Job Satisfaction:
In a larger corporation, employees are typically trained for a specific task. A smaller firm may give them the opportunity to work in a lot of different areas on a lot of different tasks. That can be intriguing for some people. And there is more opportunity for upward mobility at a small firm. There's a chance to grow with the company as it goes forward, the potential to have an equity stake in the business. There is also satisfaction in being closer to the client than you can get in a large corporation. In a big corporation you could understand the consumer, but it won't make much of a difference because they'll have rules you must follow. Smaller businesses can give their staff a freer hand because they're not governed by the rigid regulations of the chains and franchises. Your ability to give your employees a more rewarding experience is much greater.
That can also translate into a feeling of creative satisfaction and control for employees. According to Robbie Goulden, owner manager of Zeppelin Communications & Design Ltd. with a staff of nine "Because we're small, I'm able to run my business as a totally creative environment? and a lot of top creative talent likes to work in a creative environment, not a large corporation," he says. Goulden and his staff are also closer to the customer, which staff find rewarding. Goulden makes the sales calls and finds out exactly what the companies' challenges are directly from their staff. He then can communicate those needs directly to his creative talent. "I don't have layers of management," he says. "The other thing is, we keep politics to a minimum by having open communications," says Goulden. It's the president who sits down with the workers and deals with them directly. "I never refer to the people who work for me. I refer to the people I work with," says Goulden. The environment is so good that Goulden's senior art director has been with him 17 years and many staff who can't resist the siren call of a large corporation often ask to come back.
Consider the benefits you can provide.
You may think you can't afford to provide benefits for your employees, but often you can. What you are trying to do is create an attractive workplace culture that gives employees the message that they are assets, not costs, and that you want to keep them. Traditional 'benefits' such as health and dental, but 'benefits' in the broader term as well:
Good Deed Bonuses:
If an employee comes up with a solution that improves the bottom line, a bonus is better than a pat on the back
Mentorship:
When a senior employee helps a junior so they perform better, redward them. According to the experts, rewards can be as small as a pat on the back from the company owner, to tickets to a special event, to a raise.
Flex hours:
These are especially appealing to women and can help you attract employees and keep them happy. For example, allowing a parent to work straight through from 7 till 2 with no lunch break, rather than a regular 8 to 4 shift, can be much more important than a larger pay cheque.
Converting sick time into time off. If employees don't use up sick time, consider giving it to them in a package at the end of a year to reward them. This gives you control of when they take time off - they book it with you rather than calling in at the last minute - and can be even further controlled by asking them to take the time in half days.
Paying for courses or exams:
If you are employing people who are taking courses to improve their skills, you may want to reward them by paying part or all of the costs for those courses, or by paying for their exams.
Involve your employees in decision-making: Women are involved in 75 per cent of the purchasing decisions in any household, but often they are not asked to be part of the decision-making in the workplace. A woman's decision-making could not only help you in your business, but being included in the process is a work benefit for her.
Child Care:
If you can help out on this front, it will attract employees with families and mean they are not worried about their children during work hours.
Membership at a Chamber of Commerce:
Since member businesses give discounts to other businesses, your company membership can mean savings for your staff.
This last point is not a benefit, but it's important to have:
Recognize, reward and retain
The right recognition and rewards program will not only keep staff, it can attract employees away from large corporations where the pay and benefits may be better. But you have to go back to what makes a small business so successful and that's the intimacy of the relationship between the employees and the owner and manager, and also the intimacy of the relationship of the customers That is what can attract employees and keep them. For example, in a small company, a personal thank you from the owner can be incredibly rewarding.
More involved reward programs should be tailored to the individual. Ask yourself what would motivate each employee. For example, will they be motivated by being able to give their family something special, are they sports enthusiasts, or would they feel rewarded with group activities and inclusiveness? Consider the following examples of tailored rewards:
Family rewards: something as simple as a family weekend getaway in a hotel.
Sports: tickets to a sporting event.
Group activity: This can range from team building while white-water rafting or just shooting pool and ordering wings and beer.
As you can see, perks don't have to be big to have a big effect and to help you attract and retain top employees.
Adapted from an article by Dianne Rinehart, September 2004