Does your business have access to sufficient labor to support current and future growth? A shortage of employees often contributes to a bottleneck that can hinder expansion efforts. Hiring new employees is the obvious priority, but do not overlook the importance of combatting a labor shortage by focusing on employee retention. When you maintain a good team, it reduces your need to spend time recruiting, hiring, and training.
Long-term employee loyalty is a valuable resource for your business. Long-term employees also bring higher morale and productivity. At the same time, a reliable workforce requires less time and resources to complete necessary tasks.
As a home improvement contractor, learning how to keep existing employees is a valuable investment for your organization. Here are a few tips to help with employee retention:
Promote Health and Safety in the Workplace
A recent survey shows that more than half of businesses agree that a skilled labor shortage is a big challenge in managing the health and safety of workers. Not only do you need to protect your team against injury on the job, but new health requirements must be followed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
If you are looking for ways to create a safer environment for your employees, then check out our eBook: An Essentials Contractor’s Guide to Navigating COVID-19. Consider these strategies to ensure safety for your employees and your clients:
- Increase cleaning standards and frequency in high-traffic areas, such as the break room and bathrooms.
- Minimize all forms of contact by not allowing visitors.
- When meeting with homeowners, require all employees to wear masks, gloves, and shoe covers. Dispense after each use.
- Be sure to equip all employees with cleaning materials to wipe and sanitize their working area upon completion.
Jim Ziminski, president of Crane Renovation Group, has also shared his strategies for creating a safe work environment. His recommendations include spacing desks six feet apart for social distancing and installing a new patio to promote safer socializing outside.
Streamline Technology to Make Work Easier
As you learn how to handle labor shortages, look for ways to improve the employee experience by making their jobs easier. Technology is a great way to improve productivity and boost employee morale at the same time. Invest in software to help your employees get their work done faster. Practical technology solutions include software for project management, communication, and documentation.
Many employers understand the importance of technology investments, which shows in the responses to the 2020 AGC survey:
- 46 percent of businesses are increasing their investment in IT software
- 30 percent of companies will invest in project management software
- 25 percent of businesses will invest in document management software
- 20 percent of companies will invest in project collaboration software
Improve Training for Existing Employees
Invest in your current workforce to reduce turnover. When you take time to train existing employees, it adds value to the individual and your business as a whole. Here are some of the ways that employee training has a positive impact to help you know how to maintain employee retention:
- Improve Performance: Fill in the gaps by providing the knowledge and skills that employees need to complete a broader range of tasks. Improved performance also leads to decreased accidents.
- Homeowner Satisfaction: Employees feel good about the services they provide when working with satisfied homeowners. Skilled workers provide top-notch remodeling, resulting in a better experience for everyone involved.
- Increase Value: Training your current workforce increases the value of each employee. Compare the costs of employee retention with recruiting and hiring, and you will see that it is much cheaper to keep your current staff.
Changing Perspectives to Help Your Business Grow
If you are wondering how to deal with a shortage of employees, it is essential to prioritize maintaining employee retention. Employee retention has an undeniable impact on your company’s long-term growth.
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