What do we do at Possible to incentivize employee retention?

Valuing your staff

It seems obvious but it’s not easy. Employee retention is a key element for all companies and making people feel valued isn’t about saying good work or providing constructive criticism when it comes to it.

Conversation spaces: It is important for us to provide spaces for conversation, one by one, with each member of the team so that they can express their doubts and opinions about their position and work within the company.

Progression: No less important is to provide a detailed and mapped career progression plan for the next 2-3 years.

Each employee is unique: This progression plan does not have to be only for the purposes of salary evolution or conciliation, but must be customized for each individual because each situation is different and no two people are the same.

How do you know what makes people happy?

To be able to know the needs of people it is necessary to listen to them and know what each one considers necessary to be happy within the company. At Possible, we try to hold regular meetings where the professional evolution of the team is evaluated.

In the same way, we hold individual meetings with the staff to ask them for feedback, their opinion on how they feel within the company and what the company can improve in the aspects that affect individuals.

These meetings are essential to know the status of each person and to solve situations of lack of motivation or discomfort with the company.

These exercises should be resorted to listening and not to prejudging, or issuing opinions or decisions. Subsequently, with this information, assess whether it is possible for the company to implement plans that can improve the happiness of the professionals who constitute it.

What are the measures that can be addressed?

Some people need to participate in more innovative projects where they can implement a new course or technology. Others seek to have a line of training drawn up and that the company costs the courses and certifications in which the individual has an interest. For others, happiness is having their time and organizing work at will, in schedule and location.

The possibilities are endless and if the company is able to manage and create opportunities for people to develop or organize to their liking, it will be more difficult for them to decide to give a change of company.

Logically, even if all this is at stake, not all needs or expectations can always be met. From a legal point of view, some activities or actions may not be easy to articulate (Unfortunately, legislation is often very rigid and lags behind the mindset of new companies).

However, the important thing is to explain clearly and directly why a measure cannot be carried out and what the legal impediments, if any, are. Furthermore, it is important to propose alternatives that can cover part of the objective of the proposed measure and thus partly improve the situation of professionals in companies.

In our opinion, the companies with the best scores by their employees, are not the ones that have more benefits such as gym, free cafeteria or nursery in their facilities, but those that listen to the opinions and needs of their members and try to implement measures that meet those needs.

Managing frustration

Both the company and the staff must know how to handle the frustration that will invade them at times. You have to be aware that it is not always possible to carry out everything you set out to do. There are measures that can be personal and others extendable to the whole team, but there are others that can generate inequality and come to clash with the rights of other colleagues.

In addition, the company must ensure its own continuity and growth, so it is possible that there are certain measures that cannot occur at times in its history.

For example, we have all heard of companies that have ping pong tables in their facilities, but if that space is necessary for jobs you can not consider changing premises to put a ping pong table in the office. It is an extreme example, but it gives an idea that you can not always put above all the requests or needs of the staff, without going into judging whether or not it is good to have a ping pong table in the office.

In short…

Listen to people and study if the needs they pose are viable from the operational, functional, legal, and labor point of view of the company. All this will demonstrate to the team that their opinions have an impact on the company and that they are part of it, not only as a workforce but also that they are participants in the day-to-day life of the company. Thus improving the sense of community and satisfaction with the environment that one is.

And you? What do you do to incentivize employee retention?

Have you already seen our article about our new offices?

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