As a business owner, one of the assets of your business is your employees.
As a result of COVID-19 and other factors, good employees are one asset that many businesses are failing to keep. While some businesses are struggling to find and keep good employees, there are others that are not struggling to retain or attract employees.
These businesses are consistently rated as top employers and it’s not just because they have more resources, it is because they emulate certain habits in their management of their employees.
Below are some of the tips and tricks that these top employers have implemented that you can look to apply to your business right now. Let us all learn how to be a Top 100 Employer.
1. Competitive Salary/Pay
A large operating expense of a business can be the wages it pays to its employees, but it is also one of the most crucial parts of keeping the best employees. It is necessary to recruit and keep top talent in your business.
As a business owner, it is a good practice to regularly keep track and compare what wages you are offering against similar positions in the market and then make appropriate changes in order to retain your best employees. Maintaining wages that fit within the market will help to save you money in the long run as it helps reduce costs as it helps to avoid having to hire and train a replacement.
2. Effective Communications
A sign of a good employer is that the employer practices effective communication strategies. Effective communication is a key part of good management. And remember, employees don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers. An effective communication practice involves keeping employees informed of upcoming changes to the business, projects, or an employee’s workflows.
Another aspect of good communication is encouraging your employees to share their concerns and suggestions for improvements. A large benefit of being an employer with effective communication practices is that it can help to avoid misunderstandings or miscommunications.
3. Invest Back In Employees
A top employer is one that invests back in its employees. This does not mean just providing a free lunch or a yearly work retreat. While those benefits can be a nice gesture, it is important for employers to invest in technology that helps their employees to perform their tasks.
There are so many technological advances that can help your employees to perform their tasks more efficiently and effectively, which can help to reduce your overall costs and lessen the stress on your employees.
Another way to invest in your employees is to provide opportunities for your employees to improve their current set of skills or learn new ones that could be beneficial to their role or a future role in your business.
This helps to show your employees that you are invested in their growth and shows a commitment to the employee that there may be an opportunity for the employee to grow their career in your business. Additionally, you'll have a better-informed employee base.
4. Work-Life Balance
Allowing employees to have a good work-life balance reduces the stress and burden on your employees and can help keep your employee’s productivity up. This can look a variety of different ways whether it is allowing your employees to perform their role remotely or allowing for employees to set a flexible schedule.
It also can involve a leave policy whether that is offering paid time off or taking a paid or unpaid leave of absence. This allows employees to have time for family and balance other unexpected life events.
If you expand your business to includes some of these policies, make sure that you have policies written regarding providing time off. Certain employers, who have 50 or more employees, are bound to offer statutory leave under the both Federal Family Medical Leave Act and Wisconsin's Family Medical Leave Act.
Additionally, if you are going to implement a remote work process, have that process written down so to make sure that all employees are aware of your requirements for remote work and help to mitigate compliance issues.
5. Bonuses
As an employer don’t be afraid to reward your employees when they have a great job performance. Creating set benchmarks for bonuses can be difficult but can help keep employees motivated to not only reach their goals but exceed them.
Don’t shy away from offering a monetary bonus to well-performing employees. When you are structuring your bonus offerings, you will want to make sure that the bonus is structured in the appropriate way.
Under federal law, there are two types of bonuses that a business can offer one is a discretionary bonus and the other is a non-discretionary bonus.
A discretionary bonus is one that is generally not expected by the employees and the requirements for an employee to achieve this bonus are disclosed to employees before the employee receives such a bonus. A common discretionary bonus is when an employer has a profitable year and rewards employees for the company's performance.
While a nondiscretionary bonus is a clear set goal for employees to reach a specific bonus and employees are fully aware of what they need to do in order to obtain the bonus. An example would be a hiring bonus or an attendance bonus. A non-discretionary bonus can change an employee's regular rate of pay and can affect an employee's overtime pay.
It is important that you recognize what type of bonus you are actually planning to offer, as the definition an employer assigns to a bonus may not be its actual definition. The bonus will be assigned the label pursuant to federal law and not the employer's discretion, which can have consequences for employers.
If you have questions regarding how to start implementing some of these tips or other employment-related questions, we can help!
Set up a time to speak with one of us today.