No matter the industry in which you are in, all businesses want two things. The first one is long-term profitability and growth. The second is attracting and maintaining high-quality employees.
With that in mind, here are four great pointers to employee retention and company growth:
Offer Valuable Benefits
Based on American labor law, companies in most states are required to provide full-time employees with social security, medicare, federal insurance contributions, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and family and medical leave. Even though it sounds like a lot, it is a very basic package, less robust than in other developed countries like Germany, Sweden, and Australia.
As a result, most firms offer extra perks to staff members. Examples include loan assistance programs for educational fees and mortgage payments or a company car.
For a business to keep quality employees, the number of benefits is not what matters most. The key lies in providing things that workers actually need. For instance, if you want qualified working mothers to stay, you could look into opening your own daycare facility. But, if most of your staff is single, you could focus on other incentives like in-house gyms or a transportation allowance.
Constantly Innovate
The word innovation is formed by combining the Latin words in, meaning into, and Novus, meaning new. In Layman’s terms, it is a process of renewal, of transforming something that already exists into something else.
If you look closely at the origin of the word and its definition, you will notice that innovation doesn’t entail creating something completely different. Instead, it focuses more on improvement.
Yet, many company heads, especially those in starting corporations make the mistake of thinking that unless something is brand new and revolutionary, it will not be accepted by the public and sell well.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. If your business specializes in the manufacturing of TVs, innovation doesn’t mean that you should now focus on computers and radios. Rather, you could use your knowledge and expertise to increase the television’s battery life, make it lighter, or add vibrancy to the colors.
Even though the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini are incredible machines, they are still smartphones like the first iPhone introduced by Steve Jobs almost 15 years ago.
Get On The Cloud
When people hear the words cloud computing, the first thing that pops into their minds is the storage of data and personal information. Still, this is only one of the many services provided by major cloud computing vendors like Google, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft. There are also plenty of others.
One of the most valuable ones has nothing to do with storage. It relates much more to computer systems and network infrastructures. For those of us unfamiliar with this, we are talking about virtual machines and compute engines.
For example, let us imagine that your business is relatively new and you don’t have enough financial resources to buy the latest IT equipment. In this case, there are two avenues you could take. First, you could get a corporate loan and invest in expensive machines. Second, you could use Google’s Virtual Compute Engine to create a virtual system based on your requirements.
If you need a super-fast memory for a specific project, you can create a temporary virtual machine that has it. Not only is this cheaper but also much more efficient as you only use the resources you need when you need them.
Exceed Customer Expectations
Among many other things, Japan is famous for having the best customer service in the world. They even have a saying for it, the phrase “the customer is God.” Bear in mind that they are not saying that the customer is the king, or the customer is always right. The Japanese like to compare their clients to immortal deities worthy of the utmost appreciation and respect.
Of course, you should not bow down to your clients or offer them deals that will ultimately lead your company into bankruptcy. But don’t forget that your customer is not only your company’s source of income but also your best marketing tool. Studies show that a satisfied customer will tell one or two other people about their experience. On the other hand, a dissatisfied one will most likely inform at least five times that many.
Excellent customer service starts the minute a person walks inside your store or as soon as he calls your enterprise. So make the habit of treating him the way you want to be treated. Even if he doesn’t buy anything, he will leave your premises with an enduring impression that could represent future sales.
If you want your business to succeed, make sure your employees are happy, you are always improving, you stay in touch with technological development, and your customers are satisfied. The effort you put into these four areas will reap amazing, long-lasting results.
