Take a moment to think about your best and brightest young workers. Now take a moment to remember the old adage, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” (or maybe the 80s ballad by Cinderella comes to mind). Regardless of how you think of it, it’s important to understand that you might be on the verge of losing some of your best young workers and you don’t even know it.
Two questions you might be asking right now are –
How might this be happening?
What can I do about it?
First let’s examine how this can happen. A new survey conducted by Accountemps shows that over half of workers between the ages of 18-34 are searching for jobs while at work. That’s right. Not only are they searching, but they’re very comfortable doing it at the office.
They don’t always have to be searching on Monster or Careerbuilder to look for jobs. Remember, social media is also a very effective place to job search. Depending on what your social media policies are at the office, if an employee is on Twitter, it may not be simply for social reasons. There are several ways to utilize Twitter to find a job.
Obviously LinkedIn is also a way to network and find a new position. Social savvy employees are probably going to have features disabled that post updates showing that they are applying or searching for jobs.
Granted, there are ethical issues in play when it comes to your employees searching for jobs while working for you, but let’s not focus on that. Instead, let’s look at the bigger picture and make sure that your best employees won’t even consider any unethical ideas.
According to a recent labor market report by CEB, the top 5 things employees want out of a new job are stability, compensation, respect, health benefits and a work-life balance. So, before someone leaves you for an organization that provides these things to them, you should take the time to consider what you’re offering them. At the top of that list is stability. It’s not hard to imagine in today’s economy that job security is very important. However, this is about more than just job security…it’s about a plan, a direction and a vision for the future.
How often do you update your employees on what’s happening in the organization? Are you growing? Are you making an impact in your industry? If good things are happening, are they benefiting everyone?
It’s important to let people know that they are a part of something significant within the organization. If things are going well, offer opportunities to grow in your company by offering benefits like management training. It will be easier to retain your best employees simply by taking an active interest and making an investment in them.
At the end of the day, the steps you can take to keep your best and brightest employees working for you aren’t complicated. It simply centers on adequate compensation and communicating to them that they are part of something important.
Make your employees feel like they’re doing more than just “showing up” and they won’t be tempted to walk away, leaving you singing a sad ballad.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]Scott Murray is the Social Learning Evangelist for TrainUp.com. He is also a contributor to their Training Insights Blog on training and career development.[/author_info] [/author]
