Every entrepreneur knows that the team he or she builds is the backbone of their business. Without great employees you cannot have a great business. When you are a small business without the cash to find and retain top talent, how do you find and keep the stars that you need?
Let me show you how you can attract and retain rising stars that will stay with you forever. These 6 steps to retain top talent are cost-effective, and easy to implement.
Step 1: Understand What Motivates Employees at Small Businesses
You’ve got to understand what motivates the type of people who will work for and thrive in a job in a small business. These people aren’t focused on money alone or they would be working for the big corporations for a hefty pay check and whatever stability is still left in the business world.
These people want to make a difference. They want to be a valuable member of a team and feel heard. That means what you have to do to attract and retain employees for your small business is to make sure they contribute to your business. When you are recruiting, connect the company’s vision to what the candidates’ passions are.
Step 2: Create Roles That Will Allow A Certain Level Of Autonomy in Small Business
When you are recruiting, show how the role affects the success of your overall business and make sure the candidates are aware of that. Everyone wants to feel important. A star employee will appreciate being an integral part of a team as opposed to one of many in a big corporation.
Step 3: Show There Is A Future for Your Employees
If you can’t show a clear advancement path that includes raises and title upgrades, at least make sure you show candidates and current employees how they can grow in their position through training and development, increased responsibilities and autonomy and hopefully some non-monetary compensation or perks.
Nobody wants to get stuck in a rut. If you show employees that you care about their growth, they are more likely to be loyal to you. Make sure they see how their unique personality fits into the rest of the team and make sure the team is awesome.
Step 4: Have Fun as Small Business
People spend most of their time at work and nobody wants to dislike or even hate their boss or their coworkers. So if you’re careful choosing EVERY new hire, then each person that comes after will be easier to recruit and retain because they will see what a successful and motivated team they are joining and know they will be having fun at work every day.
Step 5: Substitutions To A Pay Increase for Employees
You can reward employees with equity stakes or profit sharing even if you can’t pay top shelf base salaries. Either option, especially equity, makes employees feel even more invested in the success of your business. They will feel that their hard work will eventually be rewarded with a big pay day when your business expands or goes public.
Remember, attracting and retaining top employees is about making them feel fulfilled both emotionally and intellectually more -so than keeping your bank accounts topped off. Like large multinationals businesses do.
