Investing In Your Workforce

The power of retaining employees cannot be underestimated.

Engaging employees tends to take the cake in terms of attracting top-tier talent to your organization. But did you know it’s more economical and sustainable to retain and level up your current workforce?

No kidding. Retaining talent keeps money in your proverbial business pocket by saving three to four times the salary of the position you're looking to recruit.

Investing in seasoned employees through career growth and advancement planning also keeps them 21% more productive.

And gives your business a competitive advantage with happy clients satisfied with the excellent services a highly skilled team provides. ??

From a business perspective, retaining employees is a G.O.A.T. move.

As leaders, investing in your existing workforce is key to improving employee satisfaction, keeping more funds in your proverbial pocket, and achieving bottom-line business goals.

Here are three ways to engage and retain your top talent:

1. Cultivate a culture of learning.

?? A simple way to do this is to roll out a yearly stipend for employees to use for personal or professional development. On a day-to-day basis, encourage seasoned employees to expand their responsibility and ownership of their work, such as having them plan and execute a lunch and learn or build out a step-by-step guide on one of your technologies. (Bonus points if you use content that’s already out there!)

2. Create initiatives to train up your next leaders.

?? Keep long-term employees engaged, retain legacy knowledge in-house, and strengthen client relationships by developing initiatives for seasoned employees. Use these questions as a starting point:

• What programs can I provide to keep long-term employees engaged and excited to work at our organization? Think of it this way: Where can I customize learning opportunities for my employees?
• Can I build in-house growth or career opportunity plans for employees to advance in their roles? Think of it this way: How is their future job description different from their current job description? And where can I support in filling in the gaps?
• What additional skills would support employees to transform their work from good to great? Think of it this way: What tasks require perfection, and what tasks might their manager be able to pass off to another employee so they can grow into that role?

3. Adapt management styles to support the growth of long-term employees.

?? During 1-1’s with your employees, ask how you can help them work through any workplace friction. If friction points arise, ask yourself:

• What is that specific employee problem?
• How can I help them organize priority tasks if their plate is full?
• Or is there an opportunity to train or enhance processes to lessen the overall load?

Gaining insight first can help you uncover and work through bumps in your employee’s performance.

Empowering your workforce can take your business to the next level, saving your organization time and ???? in the long term through skilled, engaged, and loyal employees.

To your A-team,

The Building PPL team

THE L&D RESOURCE DROP

?? Are you creating “wow” moments for your clients? Antonia Hock, former Global Head of the Ritz Carlton Leadership Center and founder and CEO of a global consulting firm, is coming back to Boston! For a masterclass facilitation on December 4 on how organizations can deliver 5-star service to clients, DM me (Krysta Van Ranst) for details.

?? Fall is around the corner, which means heat advisories are finally coming to an end, and scheduling learning opportunities is kicking off! Now is the time to schedule these opportunities. Check out this video where I share the top tips for scheduling growth opportunities this fall. ??? Do your people need monthly leadership and soft skills training to level up their work? Bonus points if that training is focused on the AEC industry. Oh yeah, we got you! DM me THRIVING TEAMS for more information.

?? HR conferences we’re keeping an eye out for this fall. What other conferences are on your radar that would be valuable to attend? Hit reply, and let us know!

• Northeast HR Association’s 2024 Annual Conference: October 15-17, Newport, RI.
• Association for Talent Development New England Area Conference: October 17-18, Fitchburg, MA.
• The Associated General Contractors Construction HR & Workforce Conference: October 20-22, Denver, CO.