It’s a Saturday afteroon and I’m on one of the most active Groups pertaining to the pool industry, 14psi Pool Industry Lounge on Facebook – when a fantastic question pops up pertaining to the retention of key employees.

One of the members of the group asked an interesting question that many in the pool industry often wonder, “How do you keep employees happy and wanting to stay with your business?”

It’s a relevant question and one that has a few simple solutions that are easy to follow. Jeff Johnston, owner of Quality Clear Pools posted a simple image that really illustrates the key cornerstones of employee retention.

Employees will stay when they are:

1. Paid Well
   It’s vital that employees feel that they are well compensated for their labor, and paid a proper wage for the services provided. Bargain basement shopping for the cheapest talent will hold you back as an organization and hold back the quality and caliber of your work.
2. Mentored
   There is a saying that goes “you have to sink or swim in the pool industry“, but that shouldn’t hold true to training brand new wet behind the ears workers who are in their first season of learning the ropes. Nobody likes to be thrown into a lions den. If you don’t have the resources and bandwidth to mentor new employees, perhaps delay bringing them on until you do or pay to send them for the proper training so that they can adequately perform the tasks you’ve assigned them.
3. Challenged
   Key employees thrive on being challenged with new roles and responsibilities that enable them to prove their long term value to your organization. By not allowing employees the opportunity for personal growth within their role, there is nowhere to go and little chance to grow their skill set.
4. Promoted
   Keeping someone confined to a role they’ve outgrown is a recipe for disaster. As people expand as individuals you have to present them with the same opportunities that allowed you to become successful. Promoting key employees to managerial and supervisory positions allows you to step back a bit and let that employee own some responsibility. It’s also important to see rule #1 because a salary adjustment should correlate with any promotion in responsibility.
5. Involved
   Immersing your employees into the culture of your company and allowing them to be part of the history and community your business is centered around serving personally invests people. Keeping employees at arms length and detached from customers, teams, and activities is never a good strategy. The best team leaders create an atmosphere of inclusion.
6. Appreciated
   It never hurts to single someone out for a job well done. People love recognition of their service, and it’s especially vital that you find ways to celebrate personal achievement and growth within your teams. Fostering the type of environment that punctuates milestones in an employees growth is a great way to instill a feeling that their efforts are appreciated. It’s also important to show your appreciation in more tangible ways the employee can feel in their wallet. Giving a bonus for extraordinary service is a great way to incentivize and create a positive team culture where employees feel committed to the business.
7. Trusted
   Trusting employees to do their role is essential. Letting go of the reigns a bit is important and it enables your employees to flourish as they feel a sense of camaraderie and foundation built on that trust. Allowing key employees some visibility about the business is also essential towards establishing mutual trust and long term growth. Every business has a circle of trust and who you let into it should be based off of their contributions to the business and the merit of their character.
8. Empowered
   Employees need to have a sense of empowerment within the role you’ve assigned them. Providing an employee with a roadmap towards achieving growth within your organization is a core fundamental. Empowering them to manage teams, take on bigger roles, or focus on more important projects is a signal to that employee that you trust them. It fufills people on a personal level to know they are matriculating to a higher level and being given more responsibility.
9. Valued
   Key employees will stay with you through thick and thin if they feel they are valued. If your employees know unequivocally you appreciate their labor, talent, efforts, and intellect they will feel value and personal fulfillment. In reality, there probably isn’t a person on the face of the planet that doesn’t feel like their contributions are valued enough. Demonstrating that you value the time, energy, commitment and drive your key employees bring to the table is an important part in keeping them happy.

“I think we are heading into a new world order where long term employment with one company in any industry or occupation will be rare.”

Jeff Hampe

Unfortunately at the end of the day, there is no magic recipe for keeping everyone happy. Even the world’s greatest coach Vince Lombardi knew that the true measure of a successful organization is their ability to organize a winning team. That starts with finding people who are team players. Some of the most talented inviduals have trouble working in a team setting.

There is no denying that we live in a different world than our parents did. Keeping employees committed to an organization is tough in the world we live in today. In the world our parents and grandparents grow up in, folks spent the majority of their lives working for a single company. Those days are long gone for many different industries, but that doesn’t have to hold true for the pool industry. At the end of the day we each are presented with the opportunity to be the author of our own story. What defines your organization could very well be your ability to adapt these very core values as part of your strategy for mentoring growth.

Creating a culture that promotes from within and allows people the opportunity to grow starts with selecting the right people first. Keeping your A players happy is important, and it’s equally important to create the type of roadmap we spoke of for your B players as well.

What are some things you do to motivate and incentivize employees in your organization? What strategies do you use to put a winning team out on the field? Sound off in the comments.