Don’t Let the Good Ones Get Away: 5 Steps Every Manager Should Take to Retain Star Employees

In the current hiring environment, there’s risk that your star employees could be wooed away by other firms seeking skilled talent for their finance and accounting teams — and willing to compete fiercely for these in-demand professionals.

Also, your top performers might just decide to quit their jobs and explore their options in a robust hiring market with low employment. In fact, more than half of hiring managers (51%) surveyed for Robert Half’s latest Salary Guide said quits at their company have increased, and 78% said they’re concerned even more employees will leave.

With the costs, time and difficulty involved in replacing skilled talent, would you stop your start employees from walking out the door if you could? Of course! These five straightforward strategies can help increase your chances of retaining star employees for your finance and accounting teams:

1. Re-recruit your best workers

Talk with your employees one-to-one about what might enhance their job satisfaction, and remind them of your company’s unique benefits. Emphasize what your firm has to offer, whether it’s a great corporate culture, solid financial standing or strong industry reputation.

Try to have these discussions on a regular basis, including with your remote team members. Also, be prepared to listen to your workers’ needs and concerns and to act swiftly on any requests that you consider reasonable.

Learn about six benefits and six perks that today’s employees want most.

2. Provide opportunities for career advancement

Structure positions so star employees can grow their careers without leaving your firm. Offer promotions to workers who have demonstrated they can succeed at the next level.

Step up your succession planning efforts as a way to help valued staff members better visualize their future at your firm. Other opportunities, like job rotation, can also give workers the chance to earn skills and experience that can help them reach the next rung of their career ladder.

3. Help employees understand how their work makes an impact

Many employees opt to leave their jobs because they don’t believe their contributions make a difference in their organization. So, make the point to help your staff understand how their efforts impact the company’s bottom line. Also, be quick to offer praise and thank employees for their hard work.

Get four tips for prioritizing employee recognition all year long.

[Music] well as you're looking at an employee retention strategy one of the best things you can do is really make enhancements to your training and development teams most employers like their opportunity they have but they want to grow the easiest way to keep somebody is to offer them a growth process or a growth path in your own company so if you can evaluate what your weaknesses may be what do people want to learn that's when they're going to stay that's when they're going to be engaged they want to know that they're learning something while they're doing their work [Music] you

4. Re-evaluate compensation regularly

Money isn’t everything to employees, but it’s an important piece of their overall job satisfaction. Research by our company found that 46% of employers are offering higher starting salaries to recruit new professionals. Also, 83% of managers who said they have increased base compensation for new hires in the past year have also made pay adjustments for current staff.

Stay current on compensation trends by reviewing industry reports such as Robert Half’s Salary Guide. If raising salaries isn’t an option for your business right now, consider other types of rewards. For example, if your employees go above and beyond to meet a major deadline or power through a tough project requiring long hours, you could provide spot bonuses or award team members extra time off when the work is complete.

5. Adopt flexible work arrangements

Recent research by our company found that more than half of workers (56%) want their employers to provide remote work opportunities. And in a separate survey we conducted, professionals who said they plan to search for a new job in the next six months cited the ability to work remotely permanently among their top reasons for making a move.

So, if your firm isn’t offering remote or hybrid work arrangements for your staff, you may be undermining your retention and recruiting efforts. Leading employers understand that flexible work options are here to stay. These arrangements can provide staff with the autonomy and work-life integration they want while helping the business meet its hiring and retention goals and grow its reputation as an employer of choice.

Discover seven ways to engage your employees no matter where they are working from.

Engage additional support when needed

A final tip: You can’t expect your star employees to work at or beyond capacity for sustained periods. Contract professionals can provide critical support to your core team when workloads rise. Many leading firms engage finance and accounting talent on a contract basis for seasonal hiring needs, like tax time, and to tap specialized expertise that their existing staff may not have but the business needs for the short term.

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