Replacing employees can get expensive. It’s estimated it costs up to 1.5 times an employee’s annual salary to replace that employee due to advertising and recruitment expenses, loss in productivity during the interim, and training the new employee. It quickly becomes obvious that holding on to the employees you have is much wiser than letting them go.

So the question then becomes: How do you retain employees? Today’s employees want a relaxed, friendly work atmosphere and a high quality of life. Healthcare, vacation/sick time, paid holidays, and other fringe benefits boost morale and lifestyle. But chances are that if you offer benefits, so do your competitors.

In addition to competitive wages and benefits, you can offer a supportive work atmosphere with regular rewards for goals met, whether it be a drink after work or pizza for lunch. These little motivators are great at easing the tension that builds up during hours of hard work, especially in the remodeling industry. If there is any commuting involved, you can offer commuter benefits, carpools, vanpools, etc, … a key selling point to today’s young, eco-minded generation of workers.

Of course there is a multitude of other easy, low cost ways to make the workplace more enjoyable and keep your most valuable employees coming back every day and on time. It can be as simple as a quick thanks or an immediate award for a job well done. Make a habit of involving them in decision making as much as possible. Also, just get to know them. It’s as old as friendship; the better you know an employee the easier it is to motivate that employee.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Contractor Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.