Every shop wants to keep its top employees for as long as possible. However, since these employees are so good at what they do, they’re the ones who will have the easiest time getting a job somewhere else. With this in mind, it’s helpful to make sure your shop checks in with your employees periodically. Happy employees are less likely to want to leave their job and move to a new place. Fortunately, keeping top employees in your shop boils down to four main points.
Keep Them Challenged
People who exceed expectations at their job often want a challenge to keep them interested. As always, you’ll have to talk to them to be sure, but this is fairly common. One way to keep your top employees challenged is to add more depth or variety to what they do. For example, if they run machines on the shop floor, consider getting them cross-trained on other machines. Alternatively, maybe they would like to help manage the shop. If that’s the case, consider giving them more responsibility.
Help Them with Their Career
Many top employees don’t want to do the same thing forever. They may have an idea of what they want to do next in their career, and if your shop can’t provide that for them, they’ll find one that can. Talk to your employees and find out what they’re looking for. Some may want to move into management, while others may want to expand their skills on the shop floor, by learning a new machine or learning a new process such as welding. Even if they aren’t sure, it’s still a good idea to talk to them about their options because that could give them an idea of what sounds interesting to them.
Handle Toxic Employees
Even if an employee loves their job and the management, if they have to deal with a toxic coworker, they may decide it’s not worth it to stay. As a manager, it’s up to you to handle toxic employees in your shop. Even if a toxic employee is more productive than anyone else, they’ll still lose you time and money because of everyone they chase off. Sometimes, toxic employees can be coached into being better coworkers, and sometimes they can’t. One way or another, if you’re able to make your shop a good place to work, everyone will be more likely to stay.
Check the Shop’s Culture
Culture can be a difficult thing to define. Having a good culture in your shop means that everyone generally wants to come to work, and they feel comfortable while they’re there. Sometimes, your shop may be incredibly busy and that may be stressful. That doesn’t necessarily mean your shop has a bad culture. Look at how employees relate to each other. Do they talk to each other? Joke around? Or do they ignore each other? There are a lot of factors that play into having a good culture in your shop, and each shop will have its own unique culture. Generally, a good shop culture takes care of its personnel, gives them the tools and drive to make the customers happy, and keeps everyone safe.
Top employees can help your shop grow, so it’s helpful to keep them around. Once your shop is in the habit of helping its best employees, you’re more likely to attract other great employees to your shop. And the people who already work there may become better employees as well. Great employees tend to influence those around them to be better. If you keep your best team members challenged, help them with their career, handle toxic employees in your shop, and check your shop’s culture, you’ll have a great shop where great people want to work. What more could a shop ask for?
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