Employee left, $1.25 Reimbursement Was Denied

Keeping your best employees is no easy task. As my old ball coach would say--nothing just happens. But where do you start? I ran across an article that gives you a great place to start. Go check it out but here's my take---

In the article titled, How to keep your best employees: Developing an effective retention policy, I agree with June Delano’s ideas on turnover. She suggests frequent and improved communication, and well-defined expectations. I’ve worked with some who were paid a good salary, but they left because the expectations were not clear. 

Years back, my good friend went off and designed a database to track errors. She then set up the database to deliver a report each week [huge time saver].. The problem: her manager wasn't excited about the tool because he believed she should have been working on something else. Here's the bigger problem: my friend didn’t receive any direction from her manager—on much. The manager didn’t lay out the expectations of the job. Of course, this put a strain on their relationship. My friend didn’t leave but she started looking.

Money isn’t everything

Money isn’t everything. Leaders can sometimes make the assumption that money or a valuable item will make a difference. This could lead to problems [trust me]. 

While reading the same article, I got a good laugh when reading about the person who left their job because a $1.25 reimbursement was denied. However, I realize it’s a serious matter. In my opinion, this is where an organization’s leadership and development team should get in the game.

Leaders need coaching on how to retain employees!

So much effort is spent on coaching hiring managers to hire people but little is left on coaching leaders how to retain employees. In my experience, it’s easy to take an employee for granted—assuming they will always be around. So managers have to have support. And I mean not just a line item on the company’s goal sheet or performance program.

That's my two cents. What are your thoughts on the article and keeping your best employees?

P.S. Check back for my next post on a resource to help in this area.