How long do employees stay in your company? Do they look forward to coming to work? Do they feel like they belong in your company? Do they feel inspired to do their best? 

As an employer or HR professional, these are some questions you should ask about your employees.

63.3% of businesses find it hard to keep employees, and 81% term it a costly problem. Employee success is critical in determining whether employees stay. 

In this article, you will learn more about employee success, its importance, and how to enable and implement it.

What Is Employee Success, And Why Is It Important?

Employee success involves proactively ensuring employees have success throughout their lifecycle. It is a continuous process that starts from hiring until an employee leaves. Employee engagement is what determines employee success. 

Business success ties to your employee’s success; this should be a no-brainer. In fact, 81% of business leaders agree that highly engaged employees perform better and are more productive. 

However, employee success is rarely prioritized before other business needs. In the same study, only 37% made employee engagement an area of focus in their organization. It is a tragedy, as employee success is what creates organizational success. 

When employers engage employees, there is better performance, increased productivity, motivation, and company profits. Therefore, it is a win-win for both the employer and the workers. 

5 Ways To Enable Employee Success 

Below are some tips on improving employee success as an HR professional or a business owner.

1. Start from onboarding

After successfully interviewing candidates and finding the right fit, you must have an onboarding plan for your newest employees. 

An onboarding process should be more than the paperwork of just filling out forms like W-4 and I-9 and reporting new hires. It should be a strategic process that goes beyond signing the paperwork and should make the potential candidates feel engaged during the process. 

To onboard your new hire successfully, you can start by setting up a working area for them. The computer and phone lines should be working and have their work email ready. 

From there, create an onboarding village. In it, include your talent acquisition manager, senior management, and members of staff. It will acclimate your new hire to your company culture and show your commitment and dedication to having the recent hire stay. 

Also, provide a mentor who will show the new employee the ropes. The mentor should deeply understand your organization’s mission, vision, and culture. 

In the onboarding process, have clear goals for your new employee and make them attainable in the first weeks of work. These goals will incentivize employees to deliver meaningful work as they fit into their new position. 

Keep up with the onboarding process until the new employee is comfortable and attuned to your organization. It is advisable the onboarding process last at least one year since 20% of new employee turnover happens in the first 45 days of work, and another 40% quit within the first year. Organizations with a robust onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and their productivity by over 70%. 

2. Reward employees

Think about when you put your heart and soul into a project. The hard work, the late nights, the pressure, in the end, you delivered exceptionally. You felt proud and accomplished. Now how did it feel when other people recognized your work? Most likely, you felt elated.

It is no different with employees. As an employer, acknowledging your employees’ good work makes them feel proud and take ownership. By consistently recognizing your employees’ work, you boost productivity and engagement, improve team culture, decrease employee turnover, increase retention of quality employees, and boost greater employee satisfaction.   

Consider offering personalized and thoughtful gifts that go beyond the conventional. Sending eCards, which offer the charm of traditional greeting cards with the convenience of the digital world, can be a unique and memorable way to recognize employee efforts. Such small gestures can significantly enhance team morale by making employees feel valued.

• Implement a reward management system

To reward your employees, put up a reward management system. For starters, what is reward management? Reward management is an organization’s practice to fairly and consistently reward outstanding performance. 

The rewards can be in many forms. The most effective rewards support the overall business strategy, purpose, culture, performance, and employee needs. If you’re considering building a reward management system, ask yourself a few questions:

• What rewards will your employees appreciate the most? 
• Will the rewards boost company culture and performance?
• How will you recognize and respond to changes in rewards expectations from your employees?

Once you have articulate answers to these questions, develop your reward management system. Share it with your employees, ask for feedback, and refine it as you go along. Reward the most diligent employees with some pleasant bonus or gift, for example, provide them with an extra day off, send them on a trip, recognize achievements with personalized plaques, or present a certificate (there are many gift certificate templates you can choose from).

• Use a performance management system 

Performance management is another method you can use to incentivize your employees. It is a systematic process involving your employees, individually or collectively, on how to effectively accomplish your organization’s mission and goals.

You will need a performance management program to communicate these goals, reinforce individual/collective accountability for meeting these goals, and track and evaluate performance results. 

Key components that a performance management system should have include: 

• Performance reporting and reviews
• Goals, OKRs, and alignment
• Development frameworks
• Learning and onboarding
• Feedback and engagement tools
• Communication between features
• Best-practice templates and customization
• Customer support

If you don’t want to build your performance management system from scratch, consider subscribing to HR software. Platforms you can use are Kissflow HR Cloud, Workday, BambooHR, Engagedly, UltiPro, and Halogen Performance, among others. If you need professional assistance in implementing and optimizing your HR software, you can also explore the comprehensive Workday consulting services offered by trusted industry experts.

3. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Does your workplace find it easy to communicate? As simple as it sounds, most workplaces find communication challenging. Did you know that 86% of executives, managers and junior employees cite a lack of effective communication as the leading cause of work failure? 

Unfortunately, such grim statistics contribute to low employee productivity, engagement, retention, trust, and money. In a survey of 400 companies with 100,000 employees, the average loss per company because of inadequate communication to and between employees is $62.4 million annually. To overcome poor communication and facilitate employee success, you must create a communication plan for your workplace. 

For an effective communication strategy, outline your company’s objectives, mission, and values. After that, define your key business messages, communication channels, employee responsibilities and processes, and external communication plan.  

To truly enhance communication effectiveness, it is crucial to recognize the importance of empathy in communication. Empathy allows individuals to understand and relate to others’ emotions and perspectives, fostering a sense of connection and trust. When integrated into communication practices, empathy promotes active listening, understanding, and responding with genuine care. This empathetic approach strengthens relationships, resolves conflicts, and creates a positive work environment where employees feel valued and supported.

By having a communication plan, you minimize uncertainty among your employees. It keeps them supported and makes them feel informed and connected. Employees who feel connected to their colleagues are more productive. Therefore, regular and clear communication yields employee success in the workplace. 

4. Empower managers to steer employee success

In most workplaces, the intermediate higher-ups, team leaders, and managers are usually the first line of communication with employees. However, most of them need to be equipped for this role. From the onset, 58% of managers don’t get the proper training when hired.

They, therefore, lack the skills to ensure employee success. You must train your managers on handling typical workplace problems, teach them how to engage with employees, and have them create an open communication channel with them.

Failure to train managers results in poor employee success. 58% of employees say they have quit their jobs because of their manager. 

Lack of communication is the most significant cause, as 69% of managers find it uncomfortable to communicate with employees. Another 37% are uncomfortable giving direct feedback to employees about their performance if they think the employee may react negatively to the feedback. 

5. Promote employee well-being

More and more employees seek employers who prioritize their well-being. 14,000 people from 37 countries, employees who experience high levels of well-being, are three times more likely to stay with their employer. Also, they are three times more likely to recommend their employer to others. 

Employee well-being goes beyond physical health. It also encompasses five other dimensions, which are mental and emotional support, a sense of purpose, personal support, financial health, and meaningful connections. Consider setting up a well-being program that encompasses all these dimensions in your organization. It will translate into higher employee success in your workplace.

Conclusion

Employee success in the workplace should be a priority for your business. If you have employee success, ‌you have business success as well. 

Implementing these steps may seem daunting, and you may be tempted to procrastinate or give up on them altogether. However, don’t slow down. Start where you can and progressively build. In the end, you will witness employee success in your workplace!

Author Bio

Cosmas alias Cosii-Riggz is a technology enthusiast and SAAS writer who helps clients understand products by explaining services for businesses. He has been featured on websites such as PV Magazine and Bitcoin Kenya. He likes traveling to new places and exploring what’s new on the internet during his free time.