We are always going to place a lot of energy focusing on the bottom line. Profit will continue to be and should be an area we place a lot of attention on. However, it is worth looking at what else really high performers want from their employers.
The Deloitte Millennial Survey found that employees believed that businesses should put employees first and they should have a solid foundation of trust and integrity. Customer care, high quality, reliable products, attention to the environment and social responsibility were also important.
Let’s now look at the top 3 and how you can improve them to attract and keep high performers.
Focus on employees
We have talked about this a lot before. The basic idea here is if you look after your employees they will look after your customers, customers look after the business and the business looks after the owner.
Here are 5 things you can do to improve this area;
- Involve your employees in key decisions
- Trust in their experience and expertise
- Create a flexible work environment
- Create incentives that will motivate employees
- Share your goals with your employees, stay close to them
Build integrity and trust
This needs to start at the top and can be as easy as clearly outlining what you are going to do and actually doing it.
Communicate often and completely
Make sure you establish open and clear lines of communication. This is especially important when things are going well. Watch the really good leaders and businesses when they are in a crisis, they communicate daily even by the hour. Clearly outlining what they are doing, when it will happen and why they are taking that course of action. Bring employees close to you. Treat them as equals, listen and value their opinions. Let them be part of the planning, the implementation and the success.
Looking after customers
There are many ways you can show your customer you care. However, there are 5 things you can do that will bring your customers closer to you;
- Solve their problems,
- Keep your promises,
- Support their business,
- Support the things they care about such as their charity of choice,
- And, ask for feedback. This helps you improve the way you service them.
If you would like to know more about employee engagement and retention then please contact me paul@paulgreening.com
