{"id":7240,"date":"2021-08-19T12:50:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=7240"},"modified":"2023-02-26T17:59:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T01:59:47","slug":"how-to-retain-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2021\/08\/19\/how-to-retain-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"How to retain employees without money? Focus on this."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, not salary, perks, or promotions. The answer to how to retain employees lies in the work itself.<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Everyone is quitting. Or at least, that’s what the headlines are announcing, clamoring for how to retain employees during this “Great Resignation<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a recent survey published<\/a> by Prudential, 1 in 4 workers plans to look for a different job once the pandemic has subsided. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported<\/a> that 5 million more people left their jobs this time of year than they did last year. Prudential\u2019s Vice Chair said<\/a> himself that “flight risk was the number one concern” keeping him up at night. And, amongst our own leaders who we work with during our Workshop Live!<\/a> in June 2021, 30% of people out of 223 attendees said that keeping their best employees was their #1 concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given this, perhaps it’s a concern for you too:  How to retain employees, and encourage your best employees to stay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your immediate answers, as a leader, might be to focus on the following: (1) Salary (2) Growth opportunities and promotions (3) Recognition. You might feel your organization likely isn\u2019t paying someone enough, giving enough room for this person to be promoted, and\/or not publicly recognizing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might be true. But while these factors are valuable and likely contributors<\/em> to why someone stays, these areas overlook a primary factor in employee retention:  The work itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work itself, after all, is the core of what someone spends their time doing <\/em>if they decide to stay.<\/strong> The work itself is what a person interacts with, ruminates on, and is immersed in, day in day out. The quality of the experience<\/em> of work \u2013  what a person is being asked to think about and act on \u2013 drives their decision to stay or not and how to retain employees more than we realize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, we can raise their pay. Yes, we can give them a promotion. Yes, we can publicly recognize them more. But if the experience of the work itself isn\u2019t interesting, challenging, invigorating, or purposeful \u2013 your employee will feel they\u2019ve reached a dead end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This presents a dubious challenge: You need to make the work interesting and meaningful if you want to retain your best employees. How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be thinking to yourself:  “Oh Claire, but the work at my organization is NOT<\/em> that interesting, and I don’t know how I can make it more interesting…” You may feel that the field domain is not compelling or exciting, or that you\u2019re asking your team to perform repetitive rote tasks that you can\u2019t \u201cdress up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, you can still<\/em> focus on the work itself in three aspects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) Progress. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Illustrate forward momentum. Make exceedingly clear how the work your team did yesterday is helping them make a difference in where they are at tomorrow. Then, make that path to progress easier as a leader. Specifically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n