Pay Attention to Retention

To maintain productivity and continue growing your business, it’s critical that you retain your best and brightest professionals. Following are retention tactics recommended by the Robert Half International Financial Leadership Council, a distinguished group of industry influencers who convened to address key issues affecting the accounting, finance and audit fields:

Keep compensation competitive. Firms are boosting starting salaries to recruit new talent. But don’t forget to periodically assess the pay levels of your more tenured employees to ensure equitable compensation among all team members. Benchmark your salaries to ensure they are above or at least on par with competitors in your area. Excellent resources include the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the annual Salary Guide from Robert Half.

Provide advancement potential. Discuss individuals’ career goals with them and point out new opportunities they may want to pursue within your organization. By offering a clear vision of their bright future with your firm along with a chance to take on expanded roles, employees will be less receptive to offers from competitors.

Get flexible. Maintaining harmonious work/life balance is important to virtually all employees. Consider offering flexible arrangements, such as telecommuting options, job sharing or part-time work. Having an on-site fitness facility or daycare center also is an excellent way to help employees better balance personal and professional obligations.

Explore mentoring. Professionals at all stages of their careers benefit from mentoring relationships. Providing mentors reinforces that you are invested in your staff members and care about their progress. Mentors, for their part, enhance their leadership skills while deriving satisfaction from knowing they are transferring valuable institutional knowledge and facilitating a protégé’s career growth.

Recognize red flags. If a key staff member is considering jumping ship, indicators will likely appear before a resignation letter lands on your desk. A drop in productivity, low morale, uncharacteristic errors and increased absenteeism are signs a worker may be checking out. To help prevent losing top employees, be proactive and step in as soon as you notice behavior that’s out of the ordinary for them. Reiterate their value to the company and inquire about their chief concerns (whether it’s a perceived lack of visibility or a compensation-related issue, for example) and make adjustments if feasible.