How to keep your best staff happy in 2024

With the festive season over, so what better time to start showing appreciation to your team and spark a feeling of goodwill among your hard-working employees.

A Christmas bonus and a party may go some way towards persuading them that you are an employer they want to stick with, but there is a lot of competition for good staff. What else can you do to retain first-class workers? Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment Law at Ware & Kay in York, Wetherby and Malton highlights the options.

You can spend a lot of time, cash and energy finding and training up decent staff, and the last thing you want is to lose them just when they have properly got to grips with what you need them to do. It is important then, for bosses to proactively take steps to retain them.

Nowadays, keeping your staff happy is not just about ensuring they are paid a competitive wage – although this certainly helps.

Financial incentives

You may be able to set targets for tasks and pay bonuses if staff meet or exceed these targets.

Other financial perks could include matching their pension contributions, gym membership or another well-being programme, free lunches, employee of the month gifts, or employee discount deals with local retailers.

For more senior staff, you could consider a profit-sharing scheme.

Work-life balance

Many workers, especially younger ones or those with caring responsibilities, also appreciate a good work-life balance i.e. working from home.

Good communications

Communication is also key to ensuring staff satisfaction. Hold weekly meetings where you review the past week and explain what the main tasks will be in the coming week. Outline any problems and explain how your staff can help solve them. Always be polite, offer praise where it is due and give all your staff the opportunity to air their views.

Be open to ideas

If staff tell you about a new piece of equipment which would make their life easier and make them more productive, embrace the idea if the cost-benefit analysis is favourable.

Policies and best practice

Ensure you have comprehensive grievance, disciplinary, equal opportunities, GDPR, and health and safety policies, as well as a code of conduct which outlines expectations on social media use, language, behaviour, and dress code. Ensure that all your staff read these. All employers should also have a bespoke employment contract which sets out their job descriptions, rights, and responsibilities.

Personal development

Some employee have no dreams of moving up the career ladder. The more ambitious, though, are unlikely to hang around if you do not offer them some sort of career progression. All staff clearly need thorough training to allow them to carry out their duties to the best of their ability, but more ambitious workers could be given further opportunities such as subsidised professional development courses, learning and development stipends and promotion prospects.

Performance management

Ensure you conduct comprehensive annual reviews, rewarding staff who deserve it and offering constructive criticism and a development plan for those who are falling short. Consider allowing them to give you feedback on your management style too, and how they think the working environment and systems therein could be improved.

Keep your ear to the ground and if you hear any rumblings of dissatisfaction face the issue head on and find out what you can do to improve matters. If it turns out you have a rotten apple in your team who cannot be pacified, consider using a settlement agreement to ease them out of the business before they can spread dissent further.

Finally, take time to get to know your employees individually. Manage each in the style which you feel gets the best out of them and place them in positions where they are going to feel most valued. Some employees are happy to be just told what to do, while others need responsibility to thrive.

How we can help

Our team of employment specialists can help you draft employment contracts, company policies and a settlement agreement if required and set up a benefits or reward scheme while ensuring you stay in control and comply with laws on equality and discrimination.

They can intervene if grievances or complaints are raised, conducting an impartial investigation to get to the root of the problem, thus leaving you free to deal with more important matters.

For further information, please contact Kalpesh Nakeshree in the employment team on York 01904 716000, Wetherby 01937 583210 or Malton 01653 692247 or email kalpesh.nakeshree@warekay.co.uk