You’ve got a great product. Your customers love what you do. Your business is doing really well, and growth and expansion are on the cards. Awesome. Well done!
It's about the people
What’s the main thing that makes your product great? The people who make it.
What’s the thing that delights and exceeds your (happy) customers’ expectations? The people that deliver the service.
So, having a great product and great service isn’t all that’s required to strengthen business growth and success. Nope, it’s about your people. The power is in, and with, the people.
We are passionate about people - and that includes you - so indulge us a little and think about this:
What would happen if Dave in Development heard on the grapevine that one of your competitors was hiring people at his level, offering a bit more money and were also offering a great training and employee development scheme? Dave’s probably thinking of doing the offski is what’s happening.
And what impact would it have if Caroline in Customer Service, who heads up a team who all think she’s the bee's knees, heard through the grapevine… you get the message.
“We’re not saying that you need to be held to ransom by your staff; no-one is irreplaceable,” says Kirsty. “But some are invaluable.”
In Kirsty's opinion, employers – particularly SMEs that have become a bit stuck in their ways – need to do far more when it comes to their employees. “Especially in terms of upskilling, training and ensuring that the company salary scales and benefits packages are realistic, robust and relevant.”
Focus on retention with the things you can control – like training, wages, benefits package – rather than having to deal with things you can’t control – like Dave doing the offski. Recruiting people costs money obviously, but the impact of losing a key member of staff on your remaining workforce can cost even more. “When good people leave, other good people follow,” says Kirsty.
Wage growth
Data, recently released from the Office of National Statistics, shows that wage growth in the UK job market in 2017 was a measly 2.5% over that of the previous year.
“Our candidates regularly tell us that the thing that puts their backs up the most is when they hand their notice in, are called in for ‘the chat’, and their boss offers them a matching pay rise. And better benefits. And agree – finally – to them working from home a couple of days a month.” It’s too little, too late.
Retention isn’t rocket science, but it is all too easy to get it wrong. It will also take time, and if you’re time poor, that’s where we can help. As well as an up-to-date and well-stocked toolkit of HR, recruitment and training solutions, we’ve had over 30 years of experience running our own SME, so our business acumen is pretty stellar, too.
We’d be happy to come and see you and help you make some changes before Dave does the offski and Caroline’s hot on his heels…
