Raphael Crawford-Marks is the CEO of Bonusly, an employee engagement solution that builds high-performing cultures.
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Every organization tries to balance the scale between recruiting and retention to maximize the return on their talent investment. Oftentimes, companies are biased toward getting new employees in the door. Recruiting, after all, fits the mold of an ideal business function. We define, find and hire the perfect candidates so we’ll have our ideal workforce and all our problems will be solved.
Right?
Not quite. Many companies are struggling because they don’t actually have a hiring problem. The real issue is not knowing how to engage, activate and retain the employees already on their teams.
If your employees aren't clear on expectations and goals, or your teams don’t have the conditions they need to feel motivated, you won’t see high performance. Even if you've hired your ideal candidates, there’s still so much work to be done.
Poor employee engagement hampers your business results.
The latest Gallup data on employee engagement is sobering: a mere one-third of employees felt engaged with work in 2023. This isn't surprising, though. Collectively, we’ve gone through an awful lot in the workplace over the last five years, and the effects on the workplace and workers continue.
The silver lining, however, is that organizations are now paying more attention to the way that employee retention and engagement can drive business results. And rightfully so. Turnover costs organizations billions of dollars, with individual turnover costing around one-third of an employee’s salary.
Keep in mind that it takes an awful lot for an employee—especially a top performer—to head for the door. When someone leaves a company on their own accord, there are usually months or even years of failing to activate and engage them that lead to the decision. And in those months or years, an increasingly disengaged employee’s productivity and quality of work will decrease. That means prioritizing retention now can reduce hiring costs (both hard and soft) down the line while improving business results now.
4 Ways To Unlock Your People's Potential
The formula for better leveraging your talent to generate stronger business results isn’t complicated. Here are four steps you can follow.
1. Define and communicate your organization’s purpose.
Connection to a purpose increases employee performance and decreases turnover. Purpose is derived from a shared mission, which means everyone from leadership down needs to know what your company wants to accomplish. For example, at Bonusly, our mission is to make work better.
Carefully define what you're driving toward. Craft a succinct, memorable mission statement that's easy to understand. Then repeat it often and in many different contexts. Be sure that leadership especially embodies that purpose and mission every day. This will help ensure that employees feel connected and engaged with work and therefore more likely to stick around.
2. Give employees clarity.
Being transparent about company, team and individual goals provides context and meaning to every task employees complete. Start by clearly defining and communicating your company’s quarterly or annual goals. Break them down into departmental goals, and be as specific as possible. People need to understand the outcomes they’re aiming for each week, month and quarter. They must also understand how those outcomes contribute to higher goals and the overall company mission.
3. Establish strong feedback loops.
Positive feedback should be integral to your culture. Employees are much more engaged and productive when they receive meaningful, specific and timely recognition at least once per week. Creating a continuous feedback culture is as important as creating a continuous recognition culture. As humans, we crave improvement. Successful organizations today are at a point culturally where constructive feedback is seen as a gift, giving employees opportunities to recognize blind spots and identify areas for growth. To supercharge this impact, you should empower all employees to be both givers and potential receivers of recognition.
4. Provide ample opportunities for professional development.
Over the years, ample research has demonstrated the professional and personal benefits of mentorship in the workplace. Younger professionals in particular thrive on mentorship and coaching from senior colleagues. But developing these programs for remote workforces isn't as clearly defined for many organizations.
This is a solvable problem, but it requires dedicated intention and attention. It’s incumbent on all companies, but especially remote ones, to think about how to create those opportunities. In-person quarterly meetings and formal mentorship programs could be some places to start.
Takeaway
Talent is the highest cost in your organization, so it just makes sense to take every step to improve the ROI. Following these steps can help you build a strong foundation to start unleashing the true power within your people and drive significant business results.
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