Employee Retention Strategies in the Restoration Industry

Employee retention is one of the most difficult challenges facing the restoration industry. Businesses with high employee turnover rates bleed money, and distract dedicated employees from being able to complete work on time and on budget. In addition, it becomes almost impossible to develop a strong, cohesive team culture when employees are coming in and out the door, which means effective teamwork is much harder and company morale is likely to be low.

It’s time to stop letting poor employee retention plague your business. If any of the above sounds like a similar situation you find yourself in, you’re not alone. What’s the good news? We’ve got you covered. Below you will find tangible strategies on how to retain employees in the restoration industry.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

Many businesses that struggle with employee retention have been setting themselves up for failure right from the start. What do I mean by this? Chances are if you’re struggling with employee retention, it means your hiring process is not up to snuff, and you simply aren’t hiring the right people that fit well with your company culture.

Here are some things to think about before you make a hire:

• Be sure you’ve clearly identified what your company culture is and what personalities you’re looking for. Hiring someone that’s talented but not a culture-fit within your organization is a recipe for disaster. It leads to low morale, head-butting, employee conflict, and ultimately causes employees to move in and out like a revolving door.
• Make sure the role is clearly defined before you start the hiring process, and know what you need. There’s nothing worse than hiring a new employee and beating around the bush when it comes to exactly what the role entails. Winging it is not the answer, and the employee will likely recognize that, become frustrated, and walk out the door. Don’t make a new hire unless you really need to.
• Hire employees that can grow alongside the company. The best way to keep employees is by making it known there are opportunities to grow within the company. Hiring employees that are unmotivated and not excited about growth is a dead-end. The best employees are the ones who jump at the chance to progress their careers within the company.
• Conduct a pre-employment test. This is a great way to see if they will be a good fit on the team, and also ensure they have the skills necessary to thrive in the industry. This test might look a little bit different from industry to industry, but in the restoration/construction industry, taking the candidate out on a job for the day with a project manager or sticking him/her on a crew for a day can hold tremendous value in the long run. Doing this will no doubt improve employee retention.

Having a good defense, a solid foundation to work from right at the start of the hiring process, is the best way to improve your employee retention and “score more goals”, with a solid team.

KnowHow is a great place to start if you want to improve your hiring processes. We have countless pre-built process templates to do with hiring and onboarding new team members, and our amazing customer success team is also there to help build your processes exactly how you want them built.

Flex That You're a Process-Driven Company

Just like you, new employees want a seamless transition into a new company. They’re likely already stressed beyond belief from having to seek out new employment, meet new people, learn entirely new skills in some cases, and get to know new company operations. The number one way to attract new employees, and to keep them happy at your company, is by giving them the tools they need to succeed. The best way to do that is by having all your company processes in place, organized, and easily accessible. Doing this will show your new hires that your company is employee-oriented, and that management truly cares about seeing their employees succeed day-to-day at the company. Having company processes organized and easily accessible will also make your life easier as a manager, because new hires won’t need to be asking questions every 10 minutes on their first job, they can simply refer to the process you’ve already created for them to look at.

Looking for ways to become a process-driven company? KnowHow is the number one tool businesses in the restoration and construction industry are using to organize their company processes. KnowHow gives every employee the ability to access a database of your company processes right at their fingertips, saving you time not having to re-explain the same process over and over.

If you’re looking to improve your employee retention this year, start by organizing your processes. Sign up with KnowHow and see just how easy it makes work, and how happy it will make your employees.

Company Culture is Everything

Company culture within the restoration industry is often overlooked, and can be a contributing factor behind why there is such high employee turnover rates.

Creating a culture that employees want to be part of will lead to not only long-term employees, but also a more fun work environment!According to an article in Forbes magazine, these are the the best ways to develop a world-class company culture:

• Emphasize employee wellness - It’s guaranteed that if your employees see that management places emphasis on their mental and physical health, they will stay longer.
• Provide meaning - Make sure all your employees understand where the company is going and how to get there.
• Create goals - A company that encourages employees to plan short and long term goals will see higher employee retention rates because people thrive in when the entire company is motivated and working toward a collective goal.
• Encourage positivity - No one likes a “negative nancy” in the workplace, positivity is everything.
• Foster social connection - Employees are more likely to stay when they feel connected as part of a team. No one enjoys feeling isolated at their place of work.
• Listen - Listen to what your employees have to say about what’s working and what’s not, make them feel heard.
• Make a fun work environment - Hold team building activities, go out for drinks, organize a team lunch and learn, and make people excited to come into work.

Implementing just a few of these simple employee retention strategies will make your business an employer of choice, and save you money in the long run by not having so much employee turnover.

If you want more tips and tricks about succeeding in the restoration industry, check out our blog or download our free e-book Delivering 5-Star Restoration Experiences: An Analysis of 1,000 Bad Online Reviews in the Restoration Industry