Good employees can possess a range of desirable qualities, including problem-solving skills, reliability, adaptability, and a collaborative work ethic. Retaining such staff members in your laboratory can contribute to a positive work environment and ensure high performance. Use these five tips on retaining quality employees in your lab.
1. Keep Communication Open
Open communication with your employees involves receiving their feedback and sincerely acting on it. Listening to your employees boosts their job satisfaction. Encourage employees to talk in one-on-one meetings or in group meetings.
You can learn what your employees want from their current position in the lab. What do they think about their role in the laboratory, and how do they think that processes or procedures can improve? When you know more about your employees, you can help them meet their career goals and update your lab.
2. Recognize Employee Achievements
The next tip on retaining quality employees in your lab is to recognize their achievements. Along with listening to your employees, recognition is one of the top ways to increase your staff’s job satisfaction and entice them to stay with your lab. Consider recognizing employees’ performance, attitudes, and work ethic.
Recognition from coworkers, managers, and high-level leaders can encourage employees to continue doing an excellent job. Private feedback and public acknowledgment, such as with awards, can highlight that you value your employees’ individual contributions.
3. Increase Employee Engagement
When employees engage with the laboratory, they feel enthusiastic about their work and committed to their workplace. They want to make meaningful contributions that advance or meet the lab’s goals.
You can grow employee engagement by developing a workplace culture that values engagement, such as clear communication and recognizing employee achievements. Skill development training equips employees for success and can drive engagement.
4. Offer Competitive Terms of Employment
Terms of employment are the benefits and responsibilities of the employee’s job. This can include salary, benefits, retirement, and company policies. Offering employees a competitive salary is one great way to retain talent, but it’s not the only tool. If you can’t beat salary offers from other labs, consider other ways that you can compete.
Employees consider the full terms of employment before deciding where they should work. Consider details like paid time off, childcare contributions, and tuition reimbursement for degrees relevant to the employee’s role at your lab.
5. Recognize and Address Burnout
When a worker feels burned out about their job, they experience physical or emotional exhaustion, disengagement from work, and reduced productivity. Burnout can result from a lack of control at work over aspects like the workload or schedule, unclear job expectations, dysfunction in the workplace, and work-life imbalance.
Teach employees how to keep a positive work-life balance, and give them the tools to overcome obstacles. Whenever possible, reduce deadline pressure so that employees don’t feel as stressed. And define expectations so that workers have clear guidelines to follow.
Let Lighthouse Lab Services assist you in retaining quality employees and reducing turnover rates. Our exceptional lab management services help you run and grow your laboratory. Contact us today for a free consultation.