Feel like you’re having trouble keeping hold of your employees? Spending too much on replacing those who don’t stick about? Or are you trying to get them more motivated and productive but you don’t know how? There is, unfortunately, no quick solution on how to get more out of your employees.

Instead, you have to invest in them, and you have to do it in a way that actually meets their needs. But what are those needs and what can you do to fulfill them?

Recognition

Believe it or not, but sentiment makes a big difference in our jobs. If they didn’t, then there would be no such thing as industry awards. As an employer or manager, it’s your responsibility to show recognition to the achievements of your team. And often, recognition is more valued than even money in some situations. As the ITA Group shows,  non-monetary incentives are becoming increasingly more popular amongst not just employers, but also the employees themselves. People like to be assured that they’re doing good at their job and they like to know that their efforts are being recognized. Fail to show that recognition, and you will watch their motivation and productivity plummet right off the side of a cliff.

Flexibility and Control

With the advent of digital technology and the new changes it has brought to the workplace such as BYOD and remote working, it’s becoming a lot easier for employees to offer their team some flexibility, allowing them to work how and when they can. However, this is also used to justify some terrible practices in the gig economy, such as adding and taking shifts away without much notice. If you use shift workers or are trying to get more flexible, ensure you use tools like ShiftSmart so any changes can be planned and communicated in advance. Use flexibility as a way to help employees better manage their own time, not as a means to step into that time.

Development

No-one wants to feel like they’re stuck in a rut. As much as you might want employees to be happy where they are, capitalism has taught us all that continual growth is the only way forward. To make sure they don’t find that growth somewhere else and leave your team, you must provide it yourself. You can invest in employee training days and courses that they’re able to take and provide a path for internal promotion for them to aim towards. In the absolute best case, you can work to create a bespoke development path for every individual employee. If they believe that you’re invested in their future, they are more likely to believe they have a future with your company, too.

Goals and Vision

Some employees are quite happy to simply stick to their lane, and achieve what goals they have personally set for themselves. However, if you want people to be truly invested in their work and the role they have to play in the team, in general, then you have to have a mutual understanding with your team. The goals that you set with them have to align with the broader vision you set for the company. This greater alignment means you have to be competent at communicating the company-level strategy. Then, you can use team communication tools like Slack to better communicate with different team leaders and make sure that everyone is talking about and working towards those broader goals.

Belonging

Again, sentiment is stronger than you have previously believed. Belonging and, to a more abstract extent, acceptance and love are sought after in the workplace just as much as anywhere else. It’s why team-building exercises are so highly sought after. The bonds that colleagues share can make a person more inclined to stick around in a job that they might otherwise want to leave. There is a wide range of ways to help people feel like they belong with the company aside from those exercises, however. Giving them more control over their workspace, ensuring better communication between bosses and employees, recognizing their contributions and offering some flexibility to meet the needs of their lives all help to build that sense of belonging.

You can’t cheat your employees into stick around, or to being more driven by their work. It will take effort and real investment to get the best out of them. The tips above can help you get started but creating a dialogue that allows them to share their needs and concerns will be much better in the long-run.