One of the things we are most proud of here at Intercard is our team. Their hard work and dedication to our clients is truly admirable, every single one of them wants to do their best everyday and they are all proud to say they are part of the Intercard family.
A good team spirit, a productive and dedicated team and high morale doesn’t just happen, you have to put the time and effort in to supporting your team and their personal and professional development as well as building an environment where they can thrive. So many times we hear tales of people employing staff and then just letting them get on with it. That’s great – you have employed the skills but are you now nurturing them, supporting them, ensuring they are engaged and productive? All too often many people tell us ‘no’ and this is usually down to managers being ‘too busy’ but is this really the case. Can you ever be ‘too busy’ to invest in your team?
From a purely financial perspective not investing in your team is madness. The recruitment process itself is costly in terms of man hours but also in terms of advertisement costs, agency fees etc so why, after all that financial outlay would you stop supporting your team once the recruitment process is over? HR Digest* states that 36% of new hires leave within 18 months and it costs a third of their salary to replace them!
High turnover can also be bad for team morale if people are leaving because they aren’t getting what they need ie no growth, not being listened to, feeling disengaged from management, and that is not what we want.
Bersin explained employee retention through his version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and it makes complete sense. At the most basic level people need to feel “financially safe”, you then need to follow up by delegating meaningful work and allow your team to apply their personal skills and interests. You then ensure your team receive both public and personal recognition which ultimately leads to your team being proud of the company they work for!
* https://www.thehrdigest.com/cost-of-employee-turnover-vs-retention-proposition/
Image Source Source: Josh Bersin, “Employee Retention Now a Big Issue: Why the Tide has Turned”, LinkedIn Article, August 16, 2013