3 Ways to Retain Key Talent – Beyond the Wages
- Flexibility
- Company Culture
- Transparency and Communication
To be clear, Vetted Better supports fair and livable wages for all lab professionals and workers in every sector of every industry at large. However, beyond fair and livable wages, employers can often bring more to the table than a larger paycheck. Turnover is expensive in any industry. The unique challenges of our space make replacing a seasoned employee even more difficult, timely, and costly than in traditional spaces. Unfortunately, when speaking of turnover in labs, there’s A LOT of it. Depending on the role it’s estimated one turnover can cost 33% – 300% of that worker’s salary (Employee Benefits News).
Flexibility – In the manufacturing space flexibility can be difficult to offer or accommodate. However, given the cost of turnover it could be time to get a little creative in the pursuit of flexibility. Maybe it means a more proactive approach to cross training. The more cross trained employees, the more accommodating the organization can be when a worker unexpectedly needs a day off. Perhaps eliminating the need for write ups or formal consequences – when it’s not a regular occurrence. Empower your employees to the furthest extent schedules, deadlines, and coverage will allow. Employees who feel they have “no-say” or that they’re blindly following marching orders certainly won’t feel empowered. Lack of empowerment disincentivizes problem solving, decreases morale, and is sure to increase the turnover rates of any organization. In today’s labor market it’s best to approach your team directly and honestly about what incentivizes them and if it’s reasonable, do that. The alternative can often prove far more costly.
Company Culture – It’s 2022, employees want to feel good about work. Employers often don’t realize how far gratitude, appreciation, and overall supportive energy can go in retaining talent. Executives should be coming out of their offices and giving employees quality face time – where the work is being done. Managers should be helping members of the team to develop their skills. Although promoting from within is always the goal, it’s not always possible. Tenured employees may leave for better opportunities. However, when the organization has supported their growth and development, they’re likely to return for future opportunities and perhaps serve as a referral source for other high quality potential candidates.
Transparency and Communication – The future of the workplace is not just upon us, it’s here. Communication isn’t linear. It’s 360. The days of information disseminated on a “need to know” basis have swiftly departed. In its place: real, direct, honest communication – operating as a team and not a dysfunctional family. Distrust in institutions and organizations is on the rise nationally and globally. If your employees don’t trust you, you will lose talent and your turnover will increase. Simple as that. Part of gaining trust is making sure employees know their voice is heard. When conducting company surveys be sure feedback is returned to and discussed openly. Never discourage or take personally less than positive feedback. Companies in 2022 need to keep in mind, it’s not just about the processes, structures, and workflows. More than ever in the past, it’s about the people.
As an industry, cannabis and hemp processing, formulation, and testing, have arguably less transparency, more red tape and more rapidly occurring changes happening than other traditional sectors of industry. This presents plenty of challenges unique to our industry, to include in talent retention. With another round of consolidation upon us organizations large and small need to ensure that the people within our ranks remain as important as the bottom line.
