Your staff is one of the most valuable assets that you possess.
The longer and more ingrained they are in your business, the more valuable.
I’m lucky to have staff that, as of this writing, have been with me for 5+ years. Life without them would be hard.
It’s common to think that as staff stays longer, to keep them, you just have to keep paying them more.
While this can be true, it’s more than likely not the only variable in the equation. In fact, it’s a mistake to only rely on pay to keep them around.
People stay because of satisfaction, having a purpose, growth opportunities and more.
Enter the Perfect Day.
Ideally, you’ve explored your own perfect day and are working towards making that a reality in your work and life.
But have you ever asked your staff what their perfect day is?
Probably not.
So why are you so focused on paying them more?
The obvious answer is that it’s what we’ve been taught to do and have always done.
Instead, however, it’s important to find out how you can get someone living their perfect day while working with you.
Ask them to outline what it would look like if they had total freedom to live the life they wanted to live, ideally while working for you.
Let them dream a bit.
Long vacations, remote work, shorter hours, owning their own home, running a team, etc. Sometimes, it’s making more money.
When they tell you these things, you now have an outline on how you can retain them forever. It just might take some work and creativity on your part.
It’s important to note that this might not happen tomorrow, as with your own perfect day, it’s something you can build towards together.
If their perfect life involves taking 6 week vacations in the winter, great!
While it might be hard to imagine making that happen, it’s probably harder to imagine replacing that person. And honestly, with some creativity, you can make it happen.
Same with anything else.
The point is that the 6 week vacation is more important to them than making an extra few hundred or thousand dollars every year.
Which, at the end of the day, is something that, if you can make happen, you will keep that employee forever.
Imagine if you had a boss that said, listen, I want you to live your perfect life while working here. How can we make that happen?
Where else is someone going to ask them that question and then literally try and make it happen?
That’s how you keep an employee forever.