Keeping good employees is difficult. Your employees are concerned about the layoffs and outsourcing they see in the news everyday. Fear doesn't make for happy productive employees-- your relationship with top players is probably the only thing keeping them from jumping ship.
If you don't already have great employee relationships that attract the best, and keep those most valuable to your organization, then consider these strategies:
Challenge your staff daily. Instead of big goals over long periods, try small goals over short periods. Challenge your staff to do a little more each day, they will have more successes than failures, which builds satisfaction.
Help employees forecast their own future. Add a little career counseling to your yearly performance appraisals. Help employees plan their career, focus on their strengths, and see the results of contributing to business objectives.
Accept feedback with consideration. Encourage staff to share their concerns, but instead of offering solutions or holding meetings to analyze the problem-- listen carefully, then ask "What are you going to do about it?", and listen some more.
Let employees solve their own problems. If an employee has a solution to a problem, let them try it. By letting employees solve their own problems, rather than dictating one of your own, you encourage innovation and self reliance.
Help individuals succeed as a team. When employees feel they are a part of the winning team, they are more likely to stay. If a team has a weakness, particularly in an individual, then invest in skills development that creates new strengths.
Tell your employees before you tell the media. If you have something to say that will become news, it is better your employees know all the facts first. Employees wondering about their future are not at all productive.
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