Employees leave jobs because they are not satisfied and are basically unhappy. A good manager is observant and knows when the staff is unhappy and immediately attacks the problem. Here are some tips on how you can reduce turnover rate and motivate employees.
Be sincere.
Your employees are adults and they can tell when you are sincere or not. Astute employees look for patterns of behavior. If they surmise that you are unfair and insincere, that will be the first step to their leaving and looking for other opportunities. Give sincere praise and honest feedback to motivate employees. Take a few minutes to let employees know when they have done a good job. Good feelings come from these acknowledgements and the same good feelings motivate employees to repeat behaviors that bring about compliments and high productivity.
Reward unexpectedly.
Show employees you appreciate them by giving unexpected rewards. It is human nature to want and like being appreciated. Employees are no different. I can remember when I had to ask an employee to wear two caps for about 6 months. I needed her skills to speak French and I needed her organizational skills to manage clinical trial records. At the end of the year, I gave her a big bonus. She was not expecting it and the look of surprise also made me feel good. I did the same for each of my deserving employees. In exchange, I got hard working motivated employees and zero turnover.
Give acceptable awards.
Do not choose the award for your employees based on what you like or what you want. I can remember a company throwing a golfing outing as a “Thank You” to the employees. Many of the employees did not show up because they did not golf. The choice was not based on what the employees wanted so they didn’t feel rewarded at all.
Be flexible.
Learn to be flexible. Today’s generation is trying to learn how to integrate work and family. Help make that happen. Stop watching the clock and watch production. If the employee is meeting the timeline and producing quality work, reward them with some flexibility on work hours and vacation time when needed.
If you follow these few steps, you will reduce turnover rate and motivate employees to do great work that make you look good.
