Operating more than one business location comes with its own recruitment challenges. If finding enough of the right people to run your locations in a manner consistent with your mission and brand is at the top of your list, retention is a close second.
According to McKinsey & Co, 39% of employees are planning to leave their job in the next three to six months. This highlights the importance of not only finding great people to run your locations but also getting intentional with how you retain them.
While the job landscape can change dramatically from year to year, these evergreen employee retention tips work even in an “employee’s market.”
Enhance employee engagement and communication across locations
It can be extremely rewarding for employees at a single location to build effective work processes and camaraderie. Imagine how much stronger those connections could be if they extended beyond their own location.
By bringing employees together for off-site activities like summer barbecues, recognition events like company awards, and training opportunities like lunch n’ learns, they get to meet peers doing the same job in other offices, which helps people feel part of something bigger.
Here are more ways to boost communication across locations:
- Build in “visit days” where employees work in another location for a day, week, or even a month.
- Make sure someone who represents company leadership visits every location regularly.
- Provide appropriate access to company leadership, leaving time for employees to ask questions. (e.g. a meet-and-greet or roundtable)
When employees at all your locations feel important and equal, morale skyrockets and people are more likely to stay with a company where they feel like they’re adding value.
Create career development and growth opportunities
The best employees will take the initiative and want to improve upon their skills organically. What are you doing to uncover top performers and empower them to move upward?
One method is to create a formal paid pathway of education, up-skilling, or increasing responsibility. But, with multiple locations to work with, you could consider creating a career path for employees to learn several aspects of the business and help build them up as future leaders.
Make sure to communicate opportunities widely among your current employees, letting them know that it’s not just possible to move up but encouraged. Plus, internal hires come with less onboarding cost and you already know they’re a good culture fit, creating a win-win situation for you and your team.
Implement recognition and rewards programs
An effective way to reward current employees and attract new talent is by building an employee referral program. Whether you use cash or other rewards to thank employees for recruiting within their network, the result can be stronger connections between team members and a great pool of talent to hire from.
Don’t forget to regularly recognize those reliable employees who might not strive for new challenges but consistently show up and get the work done. Not everyone wants to be a future manager, and having a way to thank your consistent, hard-working employees can help you keep them satisfied as well. Consider adding to their performance bonus or putting an extra gift in their work anniversary card; just make sure they know they matter.
You may also want to create a compensation philosophy statement to show employees exactly what you pay, when, and why you pay it. This leaves nothing to the imagination and reduces speculation about unfair pay practices or favoritism in the workplace.
Demonstrate value for new employees
A remote work arrangement is at the top of employees’ job demands, and while this isn’t feasible for many service-based positions, it shows employees are asking for things they didn’t before
What can you do to show you’re open to new and innovative ways of working? Here are a few ideas:
- Create an employer value prop to tell candidates what makes your company a great place to work
- Accommodate a more flexible scheduling system
- Consider offering parental leave
Whatever is feasible for your business, it’s important to truly listen to what employees need for work-life balance and offer it when it makes business sense.
Bottom line: Having multiple locations comes with additional recruiting complications. Wizehire’s easy-to-use hiring software takes the guesswork out of finding and retaining talent. Visit the pricing page to learn more.
See How It Works