Employee retention

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Putting People First

Identify your most valuable people and make sure they know you value them, says independent coach and business advisor Mike Pooley of The Hayward Partnership

staff retention, significant levels of churn, along with unprecedented stress and burnout are now hot global issues.

Successful retention actually starts with best practice in recruiting and the hire of ‘fit for purpose’ talent. Candidates that transition into your organisation need to gel and harmonise with the business. Hiring management is particulary tough. You need a stong fit between a candidate and the open role and between the candidate and the organisation’s culture. That marriage of the critical traits, the ‘DNA’ of both the business, and the applicant, is essential and must strongly reflect the hiring company’s strategy and direction of travel.

It’s also vitally important to onboard and induct your motivated new team members, with a focus on early orientation, to really welcome them.

Globally, our industry has faced an immediate need to mobilise thousands of employees to support the recovery. For caterers this has been a colossal and stressful undertaking, prompting struggles to onboard well and to instil loyalty and commitment.

recognition and value

Gallup polls and HR experts indicate that a general lack of appreciation is the thing that drives people out of the workplace. It’s not easy to guarantee retention but key to success is recognition. Indeed, recognition, along with mentoring (buddying) and inclusion, are three of the top ways to keep good people in your business.

Rates of pay and remuneration must be realistic. However, beyond salary banding, a commitment to training, mentoring and succession planning can really enhance an organisation’s planning and strategy development. These interpersonal acts of encouragement and bonding can check the ‘temperature’ of employees and, importantly, identify the real rising stars – whose own commitment and retention is business critical.

A recent global survey of 500 HR and talent leaders suggests that only around 30% of people in the workplace

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right now feel 'reasonably sure' they’re in the right job. That means close to 70% of people are potentially drifting and don’t feel appreciated – that's a lot, even if you are sceptical of the number. The fact that they don’t feel emotionally or culturally attached to the business just shows how important it is to demonstrate employee recognition.

Management buy-in

Ensuring your senior leadership embraces a connected, team spirited, and motivational style of management is also key.

Any industry in flux, faces challenges. Customers demand businesses are more creative, more constructive and more sustainable but those same businesses may not have the resources to flex in the way the market demands, and that becomes a double whammy. Leaders have to engineer robust, more productive, and essential strategic shifts because human capital cannot always keep up. You also have to look at whether you’ve got the right people. Are they the most productive and bringing real value to the business? It’s always a tough stance but businesses have to focus on refining and stabilising their workforce with optimal processes and the best employee assets.

Investing in people

When it comes to training and succession planning, managers must invest in those they cannot afford to lose. They need a defined management strategy and a culture that leans towards the agile minds of employees who can help make a transformational shift. We all value guidance, and training is a key element in gaining the respect, commitment and contribution of each staff member. Everybody needs to feel they are getting the right advice and training to do the job to the best of their abilities.

Look at the talents in your team and organisation. Who do you rate because of their personality, output, and interaction? Make sure it is also these people who get involved in mentoring and buddying-up to those who are joining you.

Check in on your people, how was their day and if needed, what would help make tomorrow better? It’s all about taking precious time to appreciate the cultural and emotional comprehension of a workforce. Don’t overlook what is meaningful to them. We need to work on people’s confidence and on people’s recognition that what they’re doing each day matters wherever they fit in the organisation.

We want people to fit seamlessly in the workplace but must understand the sum of all the different parts. You have to mould and encourage, you have to train and motivate that in. If there is a lack of empathy or a willingness to engage, then the appetite to come to work every day can soon diminish

Finally, more than ever we need a resilient employee. You can have the best investment in technology, productivity and infrastructure but if you lose sight of your people and their contribution, then your business model can quickly become more vulnerable. •