As many of our clients in the SF Bay Area can attest, attracting and keeping great employees is an ongoing process and struggle, especially with the current market conditions. As wages and other employee costs increase, you have to get creative and seek out new ways to keep your service levels high. You may already be using Direct Line for certain portions of your business such as call overflow or after-hours support, but did you know we can help you streamline your employee reporting process through the use of an employee attendance line?
Here are some things we do here at Direct Line to keep our team motivated.
1) Flexibility: You can’t buy experience and Direct Line has a higher than average level of expertise amongst our team; more so than our peers in the industry. One of the main reasons for our high employee retention rate is the fact that we offer the opportunity to work remotely. Many of our most dedicated team members have been working remotely for a number of years now. This benefit enables them to easily pick up extra shifts remotely as well. Scheduling remote agents expands our ability to fill shifts quickly while providing employees with an enhanced work/life balance. A lot of our clients may not be able to have employees working remotely, but it’s certainly something to consider as housing costs continue to increase forcing employees to relocate to areas that are more affordable.
2) Recognition: Direct Line motivates our employees by promoting and fostering good teamwork, good attendance and helping cover shifts when needed. Our RAP program (Recognition, Appreciation and Participation) is just that. We recognize and appreciate our team for not only doing what’s required such as, showing up on time, but also things that go above and beyond, like staying extra to help cover some hours. Although they do earn money and bonus hours in this program, I think it’s the recognition we provide them at our annual RAP meetings that really motivates them the most. We also have our top team members listed on a plaque that’s mounted on our wall for all to see. So when you’re looking for ways to reduce employee turnover, look at ways that are not all monetary.
3) Feed Them: Bringing in food or taking them out to a local restaurant shows your appreciation for all the good work they do. Don’t just bring in food for a holiday or when they hit some goal, but do it just because. This may seem like a small thing to you, but it really shows your employees that you care.
4) Hand Written Anniversary and Birthday Cards: We know some of our clients are too big for this, but maybe their supervisors can do this. We started hand writing anniversary notes and included a gift card as a token of our appreciation. We send these to their home. Most of us rarely get any mail, and when we do, it’s usually junk mail or a bill. Sending a nice card to their home shows appreciation for all they’ve done during the previous year.
Keeping a positive workplace is important for any business to become successful.
