Articles written by guest contributors

Frank Bourque

15 ideas to recruit & retain great employees

By Frank Bourque

If you are a boss, one of your biggest challenges in the coming years will be not only to recruit talented employees, but to keep them.

Contrary to popular belief, salary is far from the only motivating factor for your employees. So here are some suggestions that will increase the happiness of your employees at work and that will ensure that your employees will never want to leave you.

1. Give your employees a job they love to do.

In my opinion, there are no bad people. There are only people in the wrong positions. To be motivated and efficient in his work and offer good service to customers, to their superiors and others, an employee must have the desire to go to work in the morning.

2. Offer opportunities for advancement.

Just as you want to grow your business and advance your career, so do your employees. An employee who has no hope of advancement will be unmotivated and in no way inclined to perform better.

3. Give employees lots of training.

Find out the needs of your employees and offer them in-house training programs. Also offer them the opportunity to get paid for external training seminars and webinars available online.

4. Give your employees autonomy and freedom.

People increasingly want a balance between their personal and professional lives. Offer flexible work hours and/or allow them to work from home. Evaluate people based on results, not on how they got the job done.

5. Provide a competitive salary.

Try to find out the salaries given by your competitors and at minimum offer something comparable in both salary and fringe benefits like a car and a laptop, for example.

6. Offer performance bonuses.

The better the performance of your employees, the better their wages should be. Nothing is more discouraging for a new employee than having their employer reward the number of years of experience rather than performance.

7. Offer employees shares of your business.

If possible, give them one share for each share they buy themselves, as long as they don't sell their shares within 4 years of buying them. Mentioning that you want to increase company profits will not motivate employees who have no share in the company!

8. Offer to share the profits.

If possible, share some of the profits with your employees. Determine for yourself the percentage of profits to be shared between the employees of your company at the end of the year. Employees will work for the benefit of the entire company.

9. Periodically organize contests.

Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for efficiency, productivity and profits. For the best performing crews or sales representatives, for example, the prize to win could be tools, or pairs of show tickets. For bigger accomplishments, a family trip or a small backyard makeover could be other examples of prizes! Anticipation is an excellent stimulant, particularly for employees who have a developed competitive spirit.

10. Reward the improvement.

Don't just reward the best employee. Too often it's the same person. If you want to improve the performance of all your employees, also reward them based on their progress compared to their previous results.

11. Acknowledge and reward the efforts and values of good employees.

Put a congratulatory note in your company's office and post the names and photos of your most deserving employees on a prominent bulletin board. Or write an email to your boss and / or other employees in your organization mentioning the successes of your employees and copy them. Giving employees a reputation to keep will greatly increase their motivation and performance.

12. Make your employees feel that their work is important.

Give responsibilities to your employees and let them know personally that they are making a big difference in achieving business goals.

13. Allow your best people to do more of what they do best.

Hire assistants for your top performers to help them spend more time on their real priorities. They will thank you by being even more efficient.

14. Organize brainstorming sessions.

Ask your employees for ideas and suggestions and implement the best ideas. Financially reward the authors of ideas that save the business money.

15. Show your employees the respect and confidence you have in them.

The way you look at your employees is extremely important. Most people live only for the amount of consideration they receive from the people they admire and esteem. We always try to win the esteem of those we respect and want to emulate.

If you are president, vice-president, director or manager, your role is to give energy and consideration to your employees. Employees are said to appreciate their work only to the extent that their work is appreciated by the person they value.

Take action on the ideas mentioned above and 2 things will happen: 1) Your employees' motivation and performance will increase significantly; 2) You will attract more talent and your best employees will not want to look elsewhere.

To learn more about your strengths and the next steps for your business, contact Frank thru FrankBourque.com. Frank Bourque is a certified business consultant & coach, a professional speaker, ICPI & NCMA instructor, and writer with over 25 years in the industry.