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Retaining top quality employees
One of the issues facing most employers today is how to
recruit and retain good quality staff. With school –
and even university – leavers seeming to be increasingly
ill equipped for the workplace, it can often appear easier
to rely on recruiting from within the current workforce, rather
than new starters.
The problem is that every employer is in a competitive market
for the same sort of people, so training and retaining good
and experienced staff can be an ever increasing challenge.
For many SMEs, training will involve making use of external
resources such as local colleges and professional courses.
But these should not be seen as a substitute for on-the-job
training and mentoring. Staff development should be a comprehensive
plan aimed at enhancing individual skills in as many ways
as possible.
More importantly perhaps, the personal development of employees
should be seen as part of an overall employee benefit programme.
After all, if employers invest in their staff, they will benefit
from having more experienced and better qualified workers,
as well as enjoying enhanced employee relationships.
Some employers may feel that by increasing the skills of
their staff, they risk making them more “poachable”
by other employers who get the benefit of the investment made
in advanced training. But this need not be a major concern
if employees recognise the true value of the investment being
made by the current employer.
Of course, people do not always recognise what is truly in
their best interests; receiving training may not immediately
occur to them as having represented a real benefit in life-development
terms, so any employee benefit programme must also reflect
the need for more tangible rewards. These can include:
- Pensions – even if only modest employer contributions
are made, these can help retain staff;
- Death in service benefits – are particularly important
for those with families;
- Sickpay beyond the legal limits – can be secured
at relatively modest cost;
- Private medical expenses – are important to families,
although employees may be required to contribute to the
cost of cover other than for themselves; and
- Other benefits such as flexi-time, luncheon vouchers,
cars and so on.
Not all benefits will be appropriate for every employee at
every stage of their working lives. For example, some younger
people may prefer enhanced pension contributions rather than
medical insurance, but when they start a family, the latter
may take on greater importance. This is logical, since pension
contributions made in the member’s early twenties will
have far longer to grow in the beneficial tax regime than
those made later on, so will be of greater value, whereas
having children frequently involves medical costs and not
having to wait for the NHS can be a real benefit to families
– and employers, who suffer less interruption as time
is taken off for hospital visits and recovery times can be
quicker.
Flexible benefit packages can therefore be highly valuable.
It is important, however, to ensure that benefits offered
are not discriminatory against some groups based on age, gender
or any other basis.
Where can my clients go for help?
If you would like us to review any of your clients’
employee benefit strategies, please contact
us.
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