3 Secret Tips to Retain Talents in Your Company

The challenges that Small-Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) & Start-Ups face in recruiting talents in their company are often because of lacking brand recognition compared to big companies. SMEs & start-ups allocate lesser time and capital in talent marketing to promote their opportunity and rely much on word-of-mouth to get to the talents. However, small companies focus more on retaining their talents, which is the secret we are going to unlock together.

To retain talents in the company, the benefits of employees are one of the factors affecting the decision making. However, the market is very competitive in terms of employees’ benefits, especially during WFH on providing a working laptop and work-life balance.

Be an active listener

By applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the workplace, the employees gain “love and belonging” through engaging with the team. The sense of belonging is the key motivating employees to succeed with flying marks. The co-founder of Homey, Yi Chien Lim organized a weekly educational space for her employees to align with the tasks from different departments, share the latest research & knowledge, and the struggles & special cases the employees faced. The sense of belonging if the key

Other than engagement within the department or team, Yi Chien also did monthly reflection space for full-time employees and weekly reflection space for interns. As a leader, active listening in understanding people’s opinions and perspectives is an important skill and behaviour. It is a space not only for employees to self-reflect but also for Yi Chien to “listen” to the genuine feelings, goals & career plans of her co-worker. People want their voices to be heard. Listening to what another has to say is always better than hearing.

Establish mutual relationship

“The best retention strategy is mutual relationship. After hiring right, we show our trust to our team members by giving them responsibilities which can help them grow. Or gain new skills over time” she said. Ying Ying Oh, director of Miracle Spectrum Sdn Bhd believes that each person in the company is important. Hence, understanding what their goals and priorities are at different stages help build mutual trust. And mutual trust helps build stronger business which has been proven to be good for everyone – be it the employee, the employer or our clients.

Furthermore, she established a two-way feedback system in Miracle Spectrum coming from different people including but not limited to peers, partners and customers. “We are working together” is the mindset that builds up the relationship and trust, it will encourage feedback within the company.

Establish rewarding system

In AIESEC in Malaysia, we see people as our greatest asset and we aim to provide the best experience and journey for our stakeholders especially the members. Every month, we will have a brand new internal campaign to keep our members engaged on social media by giving challenges and tasks to win a certain gift. Other than gifts, we also provide non-monetary rewards for our members through personal development spaces, leadership training, etc. to build the emotional connection among the team.

According to the Youth Consultancy Report by AIESEC in Malaysia, it mentioned that the Generation-Z would stay longer in a company that provides personal satisfaction and connection at work. It showed that young talents want to feel valued at the workplace by contributing to society.

People join for a reason, they leave for a reason too. There may be several reasons for an employee to leave a company when stepping into different stages of their life. By being an active listener, establishing a mutual relationship and rewarding system in the company, it creates an environment that allows employees to feel valued in an organisation. The key is to ensure the employees are appreciated for their hard work and motivated to fight for better results.