In the fast-paced world we live in, job satisfaction is extremely important. The concept of working to live rather than living to work reigns true in many people’s minds and issues like limited work-life balance, unsatisfactory pay and lack of development opportunities become big reasons why staff leave.
But it’s not just the staff that are affected. Losing great staff is a huge inconvenience from a business perspective too. It costs you skills, business money and valuable experience. Plus the hassle of finding someone to replace them then provide training can be a time consuming process. High staff turnover impacts the entire company – the staff involved and the team morale and performance.
To avoid the high costs and risks of losing staff and hiring the right candidates for the job, it’s extremely valuable to implement a few key talent acquisition and retention tactics into your business strategy. When staff are supported in the workplace, they feel worthwhile, remain loyal, work hard and speak highly of your business. Applying the right strategies will boost job satisfaction, ensure staff want to stick around and grow with the company, and it can save you a huge amount of resources and budget. Here’s a few solutions to get you started.
1. Offer a Work-Life Flexibility
Staff thrive on flexible working arrangements but when you’re running a business, you need the right approach to go about it. Flexible working arrangements can include anything from flexible locations, working patterns, hours and rostering. People need options these days, especially when you are dealing with parenthood, carer responsibilities, family support and disabilities.
But it doesn’t mean to say that that everyone else doesn’t need a healthy work-life balance too. These days, it’s almost essential to a high level of job satisfaction because let’s face it – everyone has other commitments too. Providing an improved work-life balance can keep your staff motived and productive. It encourages them to speak highly of the company and in term, reduces staff turnover, absenteeism and costs.
2. Know What Staff Want
Knowing (and understanding) what you staff want is key to a productive workplace. Sure, everyone needs bigger and better pay checks but throwing money at the problem doesn’t always solve it. Money is definitely a factor, but staff want more out of their job too. They want a great boss, a great team environment and an opportunity to grow within the company and reach their career goals.
Team leaders and management that are conscious of what their staff want create much better working environments. Whether its culture differences, employer needs or strong work ethics putting yourself in the position of your staff can be valuable.
3. Offer Salary Packaging through Novated Lease
A great incentive that staff are thriving on more these days is salary package options through novated lease. From a business point of view, it’s easy to set and manage and helps to attract, reward and retain quality staff within your company. Salary packaging a vehicle through novated lease doesn’t need to mean though employees can only use the car for business purposes, but instead offers a high level of independence and flexibility many employees crave.
In many cases, staff can actually benefit more from a novated lease as opposed to a pay rise because of the increase in their net income. Vehicle instalments and running costs are taken out of their pre-tax salary, which boosts disposable income and saves them in tax payments. Simply put, it’s like you’re giving them a new car and a pay rise in one.
4. Focus on Development
Career opportunities and development within a company can be a big deal breaker for staff, if there’s no room to move. Nothing engages people more than growth and positive change. It keeps things fresh, alive and shows the company cares about their staff’s long term goals.
To engage in a proper development plan, you need to understand what your staff want and provide open levels of communication. For a development plan to work effectively and set both parties up for success, it should be in line with both the company goals and the career goals of the staff too. By shifting the focus to personal and company growth, the overall level of employee satisfaction can be lifted significantly.
5. Provide Opportunities worth Working For
In order to push development in the workplace, the company needs to provide staff with opportunities worth working for. Whilst the satisfaction of doing a good job in the position can sometimes be enough to push employees to work hard, it’s not always enough for everyone.
Big promotions and pay rises can be what lures your staff from your job to the next good job – so motivate them to stay. Provide opportunities for them to advance, whilst encouraging them to work for it too. Promotion can be one of the biggest driving forces for staff and if you provide opportunities worth working for within a well-structured organisational chart, you’ll have employees striving to get to the top of the ladder.
6. Keep Staff Motivated with Positive Wellbeing
There’s a significant connection between the way staff work and health. If a workplace is healthy, results are better. Downtime due to illness is reduced, productivity and motivation is increases and there’s an improved ability to handle stress – so staff perform at their peak.
Companies that take a more proactive approach to employee wellbeing have a positively buzzing atmosphere. Whether you offer staff free flue jabs, on-site facilities like a massage therapist or physiotherapist, counselling services or free daily fruit; staff feel like they’re being looked after and this impacts on staff engagement and retention.
About the Author:
This article is written by Jayde Ferguson who writes for Fleetcare – Australia’s premier fleet management company offering salary packaging through novated leasing in Perth.
