Hiring managers, HR reps, and team leaders know intuitively why it's essential to keep your best workers happy and under your roof. When a good worker goes somewhere else, it creates a bottleneck in production. It hurts efficiency, lowers morale, decreases institutional knowledge, and it brings on a period of reduced productivity until a new person is recruited, hired, trained, and ready to work. But when top talent is being contacted by other companies, or if someone's unhappy and starting to look around, what can be done to retain them? It doesn't necessarily mean cracking open the vault and offering a hefty raise (but that might be something to consider if the person is especially valuable or holds a set of rare skills). Here are some ways to keep your best workers on your team: Feedback doesn't have to be a dirty or scary word. It's of the utmost importance that employers, managers, and team leaders know what's going on with their subordinates. It's crucial for productivity, morale, and retention. But why? Isn't feedback just another word for complaining? That might be the way it was in the past -- think of those old suggestion boxes that went overlooked and ignored -- but we're wiser now, more considerate and more interested in hearing from our workers. The longer a person is in business, and in a position to make personnel decisions, the greater the odds of making a bad hire. A person can look outstanding on paper, make a great first impression and feel like a perfect fit for your team, but after the first few days, it's more a round peg in a square hole situation than hand-in-glove. Bad hires can breed resentment, kill productivity, slow momentum, and foster anger among a team. And after the loss of an employee, hiring a new one that doesn't work out can be very frustrating. It's not the end of the world, though. For decades, we spend more of our time working than we do nearly anything else. And yet, have you ever had a day where you felt like you didn't do enough? Eight hours a day, five days a week, can seem like an eternity on paper, but we all have times when we get distracted or feel less productive than we could be. Here are some tips and tricks to try to maximize your time every day:
Bringing on a new employee is an exciting time. There's a new team member to introduce around, a new person with insight and questions that might bring new suggestions for shaking off the old routine. But it takes time to get someone settled in and up to speed in their new position, a process that begins with onboarding. Here are five key benefits of a good onboarding process:
It's a fact of business life: Employees aren't likely to stay in one job forever. Something might happen to prompt them to start looking for a new opportunity and, regardless of what you might to do try and retain them, they leave and the company has to find someone new. Employee retention is a challenge for all companies, and for managers in particular. Finding, hiring and keeping great employees is an ongoing process and one which deserves adequate attention and care to do correctly. It costs more than just time to replace an employee The most crucial and forward-facing role in your office isn't the president or CEO. It isn't your best salesperson or your HR manager. It's your receptionist. This is the person who sets the tone and welcomes guests and clients. It's the person who keeps the office humming and makes sure every last detail is in place. The wrong person in this role can drive away business, but the right person can make an office feel like a home. Here's what to look for when hiring for this incredibly important position: It's the most wonderful time of the year! The parties, the treats, the spirit of good cheer and goodwill, that magic that comes with the holidays and makes everything just a little better. With that holiday magic, of course, come endless distractions: online shopping, juggling appointments, trying to get more done in less time and maybe trying to cut a few corners during the workday to get everything done on time. How can you keep your employees focused on the tasks at hand when visions of sugarplums are dancing in their heads? 
