Owning your own small business is a challenge but also rewarding. And if you want your small business to thrive, you’ll need a team of employees you can depend on. But by attracting and retaining top talent, you reap long-term benefits for your business.
You may not have the immediate cash to pay handsome salaries, so how can you compete with big-league companies? Offering small business health insurance is a start. Read on for tips on how even the smallest businesses can offer attractive employment opportunities for the best of the best.
Foster a Healthy Work Culture
When you compare business to corporate America, what can you do better? How can you be a better employer? Today’s hot-button issues are work environment, mental health, and burnout.
If you expect to attract and retain the best of the best, you need to create a healthy environment for excellence to thrive. One of the most significant impacts on work environments is leadership. Be open and honest with yourself on what leadership style you utilize and examine its effectiveness.
Micromanaging is one of the easiest ways to kill business growth. If you attract the best, you need to give them the goals or assign the tasks and allow them the flexibility to fulfill them by using their strengths, which may not be the same as yours.
When you see some of your best workers failing or checking out, open a conversation. Instead of punishing or belittling a struggling employee with a history of excellence, show concern. Look at the worker as an asset, not a product.
If you cultivate struggling workers and help them overcome what is stunting their growth, you help them and help your company in the long run. In addition, creating a growth mindset among your employees bolsters creativity.
Prioritize Your Employees' Families
Big business often overlooks the interpersonal side of their workforce. Here’s your chance to outshine your competition. Many people have experienced worker burnout because they have to choose between work and family commitments. You can lighten that burden by finding ways to involve or value your employees’ families.
For example, a small plumbing company prioritizes employees’ family plumbing needs regardless of scheduling difficulties. As a result, one employee who just received their journeyman license is inclined to stay with the small business after they helped his grandma’s HVAC system during a heatwave.
Make it really hard for them to leave because of how invested they are in your team. Allow flexibility for them to attend to their family. If they are top talent professionals, they will get the job done by the deadline. By allowing them the flexibility to accommodate family needs, they will rise to the occasion without an unhealthy amount of stress.
Find a Way to Offer Benefits
One of the greatest struggles facing small businesses is providing competitive benefits for their employees. And benefits are one of the biggest reasons workers choose larger corporations.
One helpful approach to health insurance is to include your employees in the conversation about their health insurance needs. Provide them flexibility and variety in insurance options. Consider the different stages of life your employees are in and recognize that one size does not fit all.
Discuss the pros and cons of health savings accounts (HSA), health share options (i.e. Medishare), and standard marketplace options and allow them to have a say in the choice. By offering transparency and sound reasoning, you include them in solving the issue.
An employee with adolescents may need a dental plan, while a single person will be better served with an HSA. One size does not fit all when it comes to benefits.
Even small businesses can offer retirement and legal guidance and access. Even if you can’t contribute as much as larger companies, showing the effort and interest in your employee’s access to financial planning goes a long way.
Providing basic life and disability insurance shows you value your employees. You must prioritize these benefits. This is where you, as the employer, need to do some leg work. Talk to insurance agents who specialize in employee benefits, compare, and find an agent you can trust and who is willing to work with the various needs of your employees.
Explore opportunities for profit-sharing, performance bonuses, and other incentives. This not only promotes motivation to excel but also provides growth opportunities. If you can keep excellent employees, you will eliminate the drain of constant new employee training.
Offer Opportunities for Professional Growth
One of the biggest reasons top talent leaves a job is because they feel stuck or stifled. As a small business owner, you can create room for growth.
If they have a creative idea, they feel strongly about, be open enough to consider it and let them take the lead. Even if your budget is tight and your payroll may not be able to accommodate a significant pay increase, be willing to improve pay as they improve your profitability.
Don’t confuse growth opportunities with increased workload. Granting more freedom and flexibility in their work structure is growth. Likewise, transitioning to a new position in the business is a growth opportunity.
Getting greedy at the expense of your employee’s paychecks will kill any hope of retaining ambitious workers. Sure, you might be happier pocketing increased revenue, but ultimately you will have to bear the workload yourself.
Creating a growth culture in your company and valuing your employees is essential. As a small business owner, invest in your employees. Your dividends will be reaped in employee loyalty and attract new top talent.
