Keeping Great Employees

“My company isn’t large and I’ve lost good employees because I don’t have higher level positions for them. Is it better to create a position just so I can promote great employees rather than lose them?”

My HR Survival Tip

No, creating an unneeded position will come back to bite you … and that employee. By creating new titles and positions, you end up top heavy and soon everyone’s a manager or director. What happens when you grow to a point that you really need an experienced director level person to help run your company?

The employee you promoted may have done well but they really won’t develop all the skills needed for that higher level position while on the job. If the employee tries to take their fancy title and look for other work, they will likely have to take a lower level title because it will be obvious they don’t have equivalent skills. This means their resume will look like their career took a dive when it might have been a good move.

Don’t equate titles with performance. This has always been the challenge for small companies where the organizational chart is fairly flat (meaning they don’t have 5 levels in the hierarchy). So let’s think of other things you could do that might keep those great employees engaged and excited about staying with you.

• Teach them to help you interview candidates.
• They could train employees on a new skill.
• They could mentor new employees.
• You could create a higher level of their own position that requires additional skills or experience they need to achieve (but would also be a big help to you).
• You could provide extra training in the direction they want to grow (there are online resources at affordable rates that will help them learn more skills) and possibly allow them the time to train during work hours.
• Give them special projects to work on as time permits.
• They could be in charge when you’re not there… but make sure everyone else knows you’ve put that person in charge.

First, though, talk with this employee and ask what they want. Some people actually realize they don’t want to go into management and may have already considered other options. Open the lines of communication with him/her and let the employee know you care and want to keep them around.