You may think that money makes the world go round, but money is just one of the reasons employees want to stay at a company – or leave for greener pastures. Here are some other things to consider when it comes to retaining employees:

The company culture

There are some questions you should consider regarding your company’s culture. Experts in executive coaching say that a strong company culture can determine a business’s success or failure. Why do you think Google has a chief happiness officer, and Zappos actually offers new hires $2000 to leave if they aren’t satisfied? These rapidly growing companies understand that a positive corporate culture is essential for success.

So ask yourself these tough questions about your business:

  • Do employees gossip or spend time complaining about one another? Or when issues arise, do they talk to those who can actually help fix them? Some companies, like radio host Dave Ramsey’s business, have a no-gossip policy. He describes this policy by stating: “My team understands they should approach someone in leadership if they have a problem or are upset. They know not to just complain to the receptionist about what someone from another department said or did.”
  • How is the camaraderie? You cannot expect that everybody will like each other all of the time.  But what you can expect is that people will respect each other, and get along without sniping at each other. Ideally, of course, you would like your staff to be friendly, and to enjoy spending time together.  To that end, you should try to come up with team-building events where people can get to know each other – and like each other – on a personal level.
  • Do you have an open door policy? Do you place a premium on good communication? Employees feeling that they have a say about where they work is a huge part of having a good company culture. It is not enough to listen to suggestions from your staff; you should actually implement some of the suggestions as well. Otherwise, your staff will stop coming up with ideas to improve the workplace.

The management

Time for more hard questions. Executive coach experts say that you need to examine yourself, and how you handle your staff. You don’t need to treat people exactly the same – in fact, doing so will not achieve good results – but you should treat your staff fairly. You should eschew temper tantrums, as they just annoy or scare your staff, instead of motivating them. And it is important that you figure out what each of your employees is passionate about, and motivated by, and act accordingly.

The benefits package

There is a reason that many people want to work for federal, state and local governments – most of them have excellent benefit packages. It is not enough these days to offer competitive salaries. You should also offer fringe benefits that are competitive in your market. If your staff has to pay for most or all of their health insurance, and get no sick leave or annual leave time, then your employees are not going to be pleased.

The money

Yes, money is not everything. But it does matter. Make sure you give employees regular raises – at least once a year, if they have earned it. If you cannot afford raises, bonuses are a good way to share the wealth at the workplace. And think outside the box – if employees come up with great ideas, you can do profit-sharing or other ways to motivate them.

If you are not sure on how to implement these suggestions, you might want to talk to an executive coach. Click here to learn more.