During the Thanksgiving season, showing your gratitude for the things you are most thankful for is commonplace.
While most small business owners often give thanks to their customers for keeping them in business, they shouldn’t forget the very people who keep their customers happy: their employees.
You can certainly show your appreciation with a lunch, some extra days off, or even a recognition program. But nothing shows your employees how much you value them like offering strong benefits.
Fighting Chronic Labor Shortages
As the Baby Boomers and Gen X continue to retire, businessesof all sizes have had trouble replacing these long-term workers.
Not only is your small business losing a valuable knowledgebase, but you’re also having to replace these senior employees with workers who need to be trained and developed over time to meet your company’s specific needs.
According to the Association for Talent Development, employers spend nearly $1,300 to train a new employee. That number goes up exponentially if they are more skilled or work in more technical roles. This figure also does not consider how much knowledge retention is lost when older employees retire.
In any case, whether you are looking for continuity or planning your own retirement, you want to retain key personnel so that your business can run after you leave the building.
Retaining Employees and Limiting Turnover
Another way to thank your key personnel is by offeringretention bonuses. These are usually given to incentivize these employees tostay with your company for a certain period of time.
If you’re planning to grow your company so that you can retire or sell to a larger company, you want to keep your most experienced workers. Their knowledge and skillset are key to scaling your business growth.
One way to ensure that they stay through the growth period is to say “thank you” in a unique way: by offering phantom stock or by providing them with a profit-sharing bonus.
Small Businesses Can Now Participate
Until recently, however, retention programs for smaller, privately owned companies were very limited. Owners could give merit bonuses or pay raises, but those still could not compete with the options larger companies enjoyed.
Now, with Reins’ ModernAgreement for Rewards and Equity (MARE) solutions, you can thank your employees in similar ways to Fortune 500 companies: through phantom stock and profit sharing.
Boosting Performance
Because both phantom stock and profit-sharing portfolios are usually calculated based on a percentage of what your company is worth, your employee is assured of earning larger bonuses as your company increases in value.
Therefore, your employees are more likely to work harder andmore proactively because the bottom line now means something to them as well.With their eventual payout tied to the company’s value, they have a more vested interest in ensuring your company grows.
Offering financial incentives is a proven and economical way to retain staff, especially those in important positions with duties requiring specialized knowledge. It’s also a great way to show your employees how much you value them.
To learn how Reins can help your small business thank yourkey personnel and help you identify the right retention plan for your smallbusiness, call us at (725) 237-5396 or booka call today.
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