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Holding Onto Your Team
Losing service providers is costly and disruptive to a salon business. Strategies' Michael Yost gives you a 10-point checklist of Must-Dos to help retain them.
by Michael Yost, Strategies
February 2, 2024
3 min to read
Michael Yost is president of Strategies, a company that provides success-driven owners with the confidence, guidance and accountability to build the company of their dreams.
The following is an except from SALON TODAY's Coaches, Consultants and Business Resources Directory. Visit it for more helpful business guidance and to learn more about Michael Yost and the other beauty business experts.
Employees stay because of what surrounds them, encourages them, nurtures them, pushes them, cares for them … and rewards them.
Here's a 10-point checklist of must-do employee retention strategies:
1. Employees want to be part of something special
Being part of something special taps into those emotional connections that feed a sense of pride, belonging, and exclusiveness. A competing company can offer a boatload of money … but it can't replicate that "something special."
2. Work must have purpose and meaning
Some employees stay because they're comfortable. The best employees want to succeed by doing work that has purpose and meaning. They thrive on being part of something that's innovative and ahead of the competition.
3. Personal contribution makes a difference
When an employee's contribution makes a difference … it comes with a responsibility and duty to the team and company. The bond between employees, the team and the company becomes inherently strong.
4. Recognized and respected
The best employees prove themselves every day. They step up without being asked. In return, they earn recognition and respect … especially from leadership. They stay because all they would take to a new company is their "reputation." Recognition and respect would have to be earned all over again.
5. Gifted and talented coworkers
The best employees are almost always surrounded by other gifted and talented coworkers. Their creativity feeds off one another. The best employees stay because of the inherent growth and shared learning experiences that surround them.
6. Mentored to achieve full potential.
There's something about being part of a company that takes helping employees achieve their full potential seriously. Retention demands an ongoing career development challenge that keeps employees so engaged … they have little interest in recruitment offers or striking out on their own.
7.Trust in leadership
Employees must trust that leaders have their back. Employees leave when they have to keep looking over their shoulders. Great employees stay when trust is a living core value.
8. Emotionally invested in their work and the company
There is a point where an employee's passion for their work and the vision/mission of the company intersect. It makes what the company stands for worth protecting and fighting for. If not emotionally invested in the work and the company, work is just work — and it doesn't matter where it's done.
9. Culture is irreplaceable
Culture reflects leadership. When the culture is pure, free of drama, empowering, and trustworthy … it becomes the company's most effective employee retention tool. Great employees stay because separating from the culture is a deeply personal and professional price to pay.
10.Security in fair compensation
Money becomes a factor when fairness in compensation is compromised. Hard work deserves to be fair compensated. Employees stay when they can focus on doing great work … and trust they will be fairly compensated.
It's about what the company stands for and creating an inseparable bond with the hearts and minds of its employees.
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