Finding the best people for your business can be a huge challenge and investment on it’s own. Once you onboard new members, they have to go through some basic orientation, depending on their position. People might only only start producing once they know what do do and understand the existing products, systems, processes, goals, etc , which means retaining the right people is even more important, for any business to succeed!

Often, what attracts someone to a new company and position, is not the same reasons that make them stay. People might say they are leaving for a challenge, growth, better working environment, higher salary, career ambitions or goals, but they stay at companies for very different reasons. Taking on a new position is a challenge, having a few new responsibilities provides some growth, getting a better salary or job title boosts the confidence initially, but what makes the top people stay and perform at a company? After interviewing and placing staff across industries for over 10 years, we have identified certain trends that have kept people loyal and also pushed those same people out of a very “comfortable” environment. How does this benefit a company, you may ask? A new staff member only starts producing profits from 6-24 months depending on their position, and thereafter start producing even more effectively, as they become more efficient and productive. In my first position as a Recruiter in 2008, my target was R40 000 per month, which was hard to reach consistently. After 3 years, I was consistently exceeding a sales target of R120 000 per month. Not every employee will improve 300% over 3 years but with the right attitude, environment, mindset and leadership everything is possible. At that very same company, so many of my colleagues left but many other top recruiters stayed and felt it was the right place and challenge to reach some of our goals at the time.. Here are a few reasons why I stayed in such a tough working environment with high staff turnover.

1. A culture of accountability and fairness. We were given accountability, power and authority to make decisions and also take ownership of results. Excuses were not accepted. When we didn’t get the results, we had to ask ourselves a few simple questions, what can I do to get the result? How can I change and improve to get the result? What have I done well and how can I improve? On a weekly basis, we asked our self. What did I do well? What can I do better? Who can help me? Who can i speak to and what can I read? The Japanese refer to it as the Kaizen principle, which stands for continuous improvement. We can only improve when we take ownership of results and decide that we can, will and want to change.

2. Growth and learning. We received training on sales, recruitment, emotions, personalities, business development and various other development programmes on a weekly basis. What really made the difference was what we did with the training. It is scientifically proven that 5% of information is retained from a traditional classroom training setting, however, once we practice what we learn, we can retain up to 50% and when we teach someone else, we retain 90%.

3. Empathetic leadership. After one of my worse performance reviews, my manager wrote me a card, saying how happy he was to have me in his team and how much potential I had to do Recruitment, when nobody else believed in me. I worked till 10pm on Monday to Friday, came in on weekends and worked longer hours. I was so determined to make a success and I didn’t want to disappoint him. Persistence in return became a habit because he made me feel invaluable and like he cares and that made me listen to what he had to say, even when it was negative.

4. Fantastic financial and career rewards. I started a new job in November 2011 at Euromonitor in Century City. It was a time, that I decided it was time to own a property. The only way I could do this, was to close big deals and achieve the $17 000 dollar per month target, which I did. When I looked at the team statistics, I saw that my call rate, presentation, failure and hit rate was the highest in the team. Knowing I could reach my and the companies financial goals as well as being recognised, inspired me to learn and do more than what was expected of me.

Every staff member expects their salary at the end of the month. When people know that staff who do more and give more and achieve more, get rewarded, acknowledge and appreciated, then it creates a culture of excellence and motivation. Some leaders and people, don’t need this but this incentive invites everyone to give their best and encourages as well as recognises the best in everyone.

As Richard Branson often says, “Look after your staff and they will look after your customers”. When you appreciate someone, whether it’s a loved one, customer, manager, colleague, etc. they can feel it and it is the start of a beautiful relationship.