You may have seen a variety of online publications compile lists of the most common reasons great employees quit their jobs. While it?s important to understand what makes a great employee leave your company, you also want to focus on what makes your best employees stick around. In the following guide, we will explore ten reasons your great employees stay.

Mutual Respect and Appreciation

A great employee will stay with an employer whom he or she can appreciate and respect. In turn, the employee needs to feel appreciated and respected by his or her employer too. As a small business owner, you can ask yourself whether your relationship with each of your employees is characterized by mutual respect and appreciation. Would your employees say the same? As the leader of your team, you are tasked with the responsibility to nurture a respectful relationship with your staff by the way you talk, act, and treat your employees. Great employees take note of how they are treated at work and will return the respect and appreciation they are given?and stay.

Meaningful Work

Great employees stay with a company because they truly believe their work is meaningful. Your best employees want to feel like they are making a difference in their work, and the fulfillment they get from doing meaningful work is a strong motivator for them to stick around. How do you communicate with your daycare employees that the work they are doing is important? Do your employees feel they are making a difference in the lives of the children they care for? Great employees will find satisfaction in knowing they have a significant impact at their job. They will be more likely to stay because of it.

Mentored and Encouraged to Grow Professionally

Great employees don?t want to feel like they are in a dead-end job. Instead, they want to be mentored and invested in by you, their team leader. Believing in your employees and helping them grow and advance in their career shows them that you care about them and want to see them reach their full potential, professionally and personally. When an employee can envision how he or she can develop new skills, work toward a higher position on your team, and advance his or her career path, the motivation to stay is much higher.

Believes in the Mission and Vision of the Company

Great employees genuinely believe in the mission and vision of your company and the values you set forth as their team leader. Communicating your company mission, vision, and values with your staff and helping them share in those values creates a sense of unity and purpose that inspires and motivates great employees to champion your cause and carry out your company values in their own position on your team. You can set a great example for your team when you channel your own passion and enthusiasm for your childcare business on a day-to-day basis.

Collaboration with Like-Minded Colleagues

Your best employees will thrive when they have the opportunity to collaborate with each other. Birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes. When a great employee teams up with other like-minded colleagues, their drive, motivation, work ethic, creativity, and personal achievement often rubs off on one another and can help your team members bring out the best in each other. A wise business owner makes every effort to encourage team collaboration, knowing how impactful great employees are on each other and their company as a whole.

Moving on Would Mean Losing Something Special

When great employees believe they work for an incredible company, they aren?t going to want to give up on being a part of something so special to them. Moving on to another place of employment is a risk, and if an employee can?t imagine giving up what he or she has in search of something better, he or she is definitely more likely to stay. Experience teaches us that the grass isn?t always greener on the other side of the fence. Great employees are not going to head for ?greener? pastures when they truly love where they are at. It?s really that simple.

An Enjoyable Work Atmosphere

Nothing motivates us to come to work like a great work atmosphere. Great employees are more likely to stick around when their work environment is a positive, enjoyable place. Every business goes through its stressful seasons and difficult days, but beware that your business isn?t characterized by negativity, pessimism, and toxic behavior. As the owner of your childcare business, you get to set the tone for the kind of environment your employees come to work in, and your best employees will only stay if it?s a good one?guaranteed.

Satisfying Compensation and Benefits

There is no getting around it: great employees will only stay if they continue to feel satisfied by the wage and benefits you offer in compensation for their hard work. Take into consideration the raises you offer to your employees, as well as the benefits that contribute to a healthy work-life balance, like vacation days and sick time. Is there room for improvement? Re-evaluating staff salaries and benefits will serve you well, especially if it prevents your best employees from accepting a position with another childcare company who can offer them something better.

Career Adds Value to Life

Great employees recognize that a career they enjoy adds value to their life. Doing meaningful work for an employer whom they respect and appreciate, and who respects and appreciates them, in a positive work environment where they can grow professionally, collaborate with like-minded colleagues, and be a part of something special is the ultimate fulfillment of a great job for many people. Your best employees will reward you with their loyalty when these needs are met by you as their employer.

Great Leadership

Finally, great employees will look to you to provide great leadership. From open communication to helping them grow personally and professionally, your best employees need you to believe in them just as much as they need to believe in you. This sounds like a tall order, but it really isn?t. It?s all about character. When you serve your team members by being the leader they need, they won?t hold you to a standard of perfection but rather validate your leadership by their willingness to keep working for you long into the future. What could be more rewarding?

We hope you enjoyed these insights into what makes great employees stay. Now you can work on implementing these tips in your own childcare business!

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