How to retain top performers? 7 intrinsic motivation tips

This is a guest blog by Fi Marshall,  Marketing Executive at Wotter 

Let’s face it, Recruitment has a severe staff turnover rate. And, with the rise of job-hopping and heightened competition, the risk of losing your top performers has never been higher.

To hold onto your top talent, you’ve got to give them something that the competition can’t: intrinsic motivation.

Rewards are for Christmas, culture is forever

Commission. Bonuses. Salary.

These extrinsic motivators will attract many a recruiter to your business, but they will also attract your top performers away to somebody else’s – unless you can win the bidding war every time – leaving you with no security over retention.

The only way to keep your top performers interested in your business is to move beyond a reward-based system by creating a culture of genuine engagement – companies who do so achieve 43% less turnover.

4 tips to motivate employees from the get-go

Improve retention by up to 82% by kicking things off with a great onboarding experience:

• Draw a map to career progression – help your new team member envision a future with you.
• Show don’t tell your values – demonstrate your values through initiatives, not just
  buzzwords on the wall. And make sure your new starts see your values in action
  early on!
• Don’t just set and forget expectations – open a dialogue around workload and
  workflow to help your new recruiter manage stressors.
• Get people into the culture ASAP – adopt a buddy system for new employees to
  help them make connections and friendships; having a best friend at work has
  massive implications on productivity, satisfaction and retention.

How to keep your team invested long-term

Find out what’s getting in the way of your teams’ engagement…

• Death to the ‘open door’ policy – stop telling people where they can find you, start actively seeking feedback about a range of topics. Most employees won’t burst into your office and raise an issue but, when asked the right questions, they’ll open up. Remember, the things that are hardest to talk about are usually your biggest priorities.
• Run with it – build your people strategy around direct feedback. Your employees will see their voice matters and they’ll feel like a real part of the team rather than just another employee.
• Close the feedback loop – you’re putting the effort in, so shout about it! A ‘You-said-we-did’ is a great way of reminding employees that you’re investing in them, which helps them to invest in you and feel at home.

Intrinsic motivation is about more than just liking what you do, it’s about liking where you are and how you’re treated. Whilst there are a lot of factors to consider, you can usually get to the bottom of things with the right questions.

Want an easy, hands-free way of finding out what your team really thinks?

Wotter automatically sends pulse surveys to your team, giving you the live feedback data you need to reduce turnover, improve your bottom line and make your business work better for everyone.