SMART ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
KEYS TO STAFF RETENTION Attracting and retaining great staff is the ‘silver bullet’ to running a successful and sustainable business over the long term, says Grant Behrendorff, Managing Director of AC Solar Warehouse. Here he shares the approach his business has taken to finding and developing some of industry’s best talent.
AC SOLAR WAREHOUSE has enjoyed more than a decade of sustained growth in the highly competitive wholesale sector of the solar energy industry, and this success is largely due to our focus on building a great team of enthusiastic and highly motivated staff members. Our strategy is based on the principal that by developing roles that are rewarding and enjoyable, staff are more likely to stay for the long term. How do we create a rewarding role? There are a few common characteristics such as providing work that is challenging and meaningful, with clear, documented measures of success. This is vital because a shared understanding of what success looks like in any role is fundamental to being able to achieve it! It’s also important to provide appropriate recognition when agreed outcomes are achieved. The final component to ensuring a role is rewarding, and the one most often focused on, is providing financial incentives and benefits. Our approach is to consider this from a short, medium and long-term perspective.
The objective is to focus staff on coming to work and carrying out their role in the short term. Medium-term benefits include quarterly or half yearly bonuses linked to personal and company performance, and these can be used to provide medium term targets for staff to consider and work towards. Long-term benefits aim to align staff behaviour and decision making with the best long-term interests of the business.
Employee Share Ownership Program At AC Solar Warehouse we chose to implement an Employee Share Ownership Program (ESOP) meaning all staff are actual shareholders in the business and benefit financially from the long-term success of the company. Formal ESOPs may not be appropriate in all situations, but there is a wide range of virtual share ownership programs and other financial mechanisms. These can be used to help focus the attention of staff on the long-term success of the business and
Rewarding staff
encourage a positive ‘ownership’ mindset.
Short-term rewards are a salary or commission paid weekly or fortnightly. Common staff benefits include flexible working hours and the use of a company car on weekends. However another good example that we have implemented is a subscription to Perkbox – an App that provides staff with discounts at numerous national retailers as well as a wide range of local restaurants and businesses.
a long way towards making a role rewarding, but
Implementing some or all of these factors goes making a workplace enjoyable is a different challenge again. Very few jobs are a joy from start to finish every day, and in my view it’s critical that when employees reflect on a week, or a month, or a quarter, they should ‘on balance’ feel that their workplace is enjoyable.
A happy team is a loyal and productive team: AC Solar Warehouse staff enjoy an outdoor excursion Information, views and technical details on this page supplied by Smar t Energy Council Member
58 WINTER 2022
