How to Keep Your Employee During the Economic Boom

With the tremendous economic growth of Western Canada comes a significant side-effect: more jobs are being created than there are people to fill them. The unemployment rates in Canada's three western provinces currently hover around 4%. It's anticipated that this labour shortage will only get worse over the next few years.

There is tremendous attention being put into increasing the talent pool available in the marketplace through options such as:

Hiring foreign workers;

Encouraging greater enrollment in apprenticeship programs; and

Delaying retirements of older workers.

All of these are great options, and they will inevitably bear fruit in the intermediate to long-term. In the short-term, however, employers are still faced with a labour crisis.

One area that many employers often overlook is focusing their efforts on keeping the valuable employees they already have. If employers are creating the right environment and culture, where employees want to work and are champions for the business, recruiting becomes easier. Great employers don't face hiring problems; it's the bad or middle-of-the-road employers that do.

So, what are some lessons that we can learn from the great employers on how to keep the best employees?

Here are the top 3 areas that employers should focus on to keep the great employees they already have:

1. Create a Compelling Vision, Mission & Purpose

Why does your company exist? What is the message behind which your employees should rally? A compelling vision - your raison d'être - is what will draw employees to your company and will compel them to stay. If employees wholeheartedly support the vision and purpose, they will be inspired to work towards attaining it.

Having a purpose statement, which is sincerely supported by the leaders in the company and which is truly representative of their vision, will give employees a reason to stay.

2. Provide Opportunities for Training, Learning & Development

Being challenged at work and having opportunities for growth and advancement are prime keys for employee retention. Stagnant employees are more likely to leave because they are bored and unchallenged. Providing company training and education to employees when they are hired, and ensuring that they have learning and development opportunities while working with the company, will create a great work environment.

As an example, Google, surveyed as the No. 1 company to work for in the US by Fortune Magazine, allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time on their own independent projects. Without this commitment, popular internet services such as Gmail, Google News and AdSense would not exist.

Although not all companies can duplicate this 20% philosophy, developing your own opportunities for employee growth is a critical step towards retaining your best people.

3. Manage to Individual Strengths

Each employee has different areas of strength and weakness. Unfortunately, most managers try to manage away the weaknesses and pay limited attention to the strengths.

Instead, great employers manage to employees' strengths. Encouraging employees to work from their areas of competence and capability will serve to increase their confidence and happiness. Of course, weak areas, if they are causing a problem, need to be addressed. However, constant attention on the weaknesses will not generate as much success as focusing on strong points.

There are numerous other strategies that companies can undertake to retain their valuable employees. Your greatest sources of reference are your employees themselves. Don't be afraid to ask employees what they need from you. What would it take for them to recommend their friends and acquaintances to work for your company? What can be improved to make your company a better place to work?

Keeping your existing employees, if they are the right employees, is one of the most critical ways to survive the economic boom. When retention becomes less of an issue, recruitment is likely less of an issue. As a result, your company can save valuable time, money and energy, and re-direct these resources back to the core business and truly take advantage of the thriving economy.