Thinking Outside the Box – 5 Tips to Keep your Top Staff

Staff retention has been discussed at length, by those in the HR industry. We all know it is important in order to drive your business forward as time spent on advertising and hiring new staff, not to mention training them, is time wasted. The typical response to staff retention is a review of salaries, workplace employee initiatives to keep staff interested and professional development.

While these are all excellent and valuable ideas, here is a list of non-traditional ideas to ensure you have longevity in your office:

1. Hallway Cricket/Working from the Coffee Shop/Receptionist Pitching Ideas: As crazy as this sounds, AccelaWork Staff reported that the top 3 companies to work for relied on Fun, Innovative Workspaces and Exploration as the three main contributors to staff retention. Whatever works for your office, be flexible on working arrangements such as flexi leave and working from home; don’t be afraid to bring a little weirdness into the office in the form of hallway cricket or a “Friday Funny”; and be open to ideas from all staff – even those not in marketing!
2. Happy Wife, Happy Life: In a male dominated company, the benefits for organising quarterly events for the spouses of staff members are it makes it that more difficult for the staff member to argue a case for leaving his current employer. Creating a work family, including the partners will see everyone reaping the benefits. 
3. On Rotation Charity Donations: This allows staff to get together working towards a common goal, gives those a chance to combine their outside interests with work and promotes your company as a whole. Get staff to choose their charity and draw it out of a hat each month. 
4. Rewards: Surprise rewards for staff such as a coffee or fuel voucher demonstrated after a particular trying EOFY, while small will have a big impact. 
5. Benefits: Monetary benefits aren’t the only initiative for staff retention, why not organise an organisation wide Gym membership for one day a week or a Flu Shot as winter approaches. You have the added bonus of staff appreciation and a healthier workforce which eliminates the cost of sick leave.