How to – Keep Your Newest and Youngest Hires Recent studies indicate that at any given time, 62% of your workforce is actively seeking a new job and would be ready to leave your employ if a better opportunity emerged. Even in tough times, people are looking towards improving their situation rather than hunkering down and waiting things out.

Since excellence is developed over time, it follows that if your employees aren’t investing themselves with you over time, they aren’t developing. This trend indicates that excellence - as a measure of quality, productivity and service - will vanish.

If you want to get your new, young employees to stick around long enough to be developed into outstanding assets to your firm, some strategies need to be employed.

Compensation Pay them for their results, regardless of their level within your organization or the amount of time they put in. Position and longevity do mean something, but it shouldn’t mean everything. Reward people based on their individual goals and objectives. It doesn’t have to always be cash. Gift certificates, time off, lunch with the CEO or movie tickets can work too.

Recognition What gets noticed gets done; and behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated. Younger employees are used to getting feedback, so going without it can deter motivation. Many employers find that the moment you stop noticing is the moment they stop improving. Make it personal and prompt. Rather than comparing them to one another, compare them to a standard. If everyone surpasses the standard you set, the whole company wins!

Change things up Younger employees can get bored and that can be a challenge to traditional and Boomer employers. The landmark Hawthorne experiments conducted at the Westinghouse factories found that by simply changing the wattage of the light bulbs, productivity was increased. Nothing should go on too long without a change: layout, standards, deadlines, rewards, incentives.

Turnover takes a toll in terms of money, time, investment, training and reputation. While you will never be able to eliminate what can often feel like an endless repetition of “recruit, hire, train, quit”, you can slow the cycle down.  7:58 AM •