1 Simple Step to Improve Your Hiring and Rention

When I was working in my first job after college, I decided to purchase my first brand new car. I am a bit of a car guy, and fell in love with a brand new Saab 9-3. The General Manager of the company I worked for at the time was also into cars, so I mentioned that I was considering buying a new car and he asked me about what I was looking at and why. We spoke about it for a while, and I didn't think too much of it.

As I worked through the buying process, he would ask me how it was going and where things stood. It was going to be a stretch purchase for me, but I felt I could make it work, so I decided to move forward and take the leap. As I was working out the deal, I had decided to forgo getting the model with leather seats. They added about $1000 to the cost, and my practical side would not let me spend the extra money as much as my emotional side wanted those luxurious leather seats.

The day after I made my decision, the GM asked me what I had decided. I filled him in on the car I had chosen and mentioned that I had decided to skip the upgraded seats. He asked why so I explained my financial concerns. He nodded, and we went about our day. I didn't think much of it.

Later that afternoon, he called me into his office to chat. I sat down, and he proceeded to thank me for my hard work and dedication to the company. He then told me to call the dealership and get the car with the leather seats and handed me a check for $1000.

This gesture meant a lot to me. Yes, it was great that I received a bonus and was able to get the car I really wanted, but that's not why this story remains so important to me all these years later. What sticks with me is that the GM really knew me. He understood what was important to me. What would mean something. That made everything he said about appreciating my work feel true.

What does this have to do with hiring and retention, you ask? It demonstrates how important it is to know your employees. By know, I mean know what makes them tick. What motivates them, what drives them to get out of bed and show up every day? What keeps them from looking for new jobs or makes them interested in taking yours?

This is easy if your team is small and you have a personal relationship with all of your employees, but that approach won't scale. As your team grows, staying connected means you need to ask, often, how they feel about work. Ask what's working for them, and what's not. Ask them what they like about work, and what they don't, and then try making changes.

If you don't already have them in place, you need to build feedback loops into your operations. Start simple by building feedback into your review process, and then grow from there. Examples include:

• Stay Interviews

• Pulse surveys

• Engagement surveys.

No matter the method you choose, you need to be intentional about it. Intentional not only about listening, but acting on what you learn. Asking what your employees want and then ignoring what they say is worse than not asking!

You would be surprised by how impactful a seemingly small change can be. Take something that people like and expand on it. Sponsor a company team, pay for a streaming service, negotiate an employee discount at a coffee shop. Just don't forget to ask what people think after you do it.

When you find what resonates with your team, talk about it, especially with potential employees. The more it resonates with a candidate is an indication of how well they will fit with your team. It gets to their motivators. The more aligned with what motivates your team you can be, the more you will be able to reward them in meaningful ways.

I stayed at the company where I got the bonus for a good year after I would have left without it. I stayed because every time I considered leaving, I thought about how much the bonus meant to me and everything I would be leaving behind if I left. In fact, I thought about it every time I got in my car.