Last week, this employee retention speaker and employee retention author presented to an organization on how to build employee loyalty by giving your employees C.R.A.P. (Caring, Respect, Appreciation and Praise). I took them through the fundamentals that are essential to building that loyalty. When I received my evaluations back, one comment in particular said something to the effect that, “It was disappointing that someone with 30 years HR experience (me) gave what was more like concepts for a college level presentation.” Like most people these negative comments far overshadowed the other positive comments in my mind. Then it dawned on this employee recruitment expert that I neglected to say to the group what I usually say. I normally tell them, “This stuff is real simple…it’s just not easy.” If it was so easy, organizations and leaders would not have the employee turnover that they do!
C.R.A.P is simple to do. But, for some reason it’s not easy for most people to execute on when faced with the day-to-day activities of the workplace or they don’t understand how to put it all together to consistently and properly give their employees C.R.A.P. The key to success is to execute on all of the points and pull the entire recipe together. It’s like the difference between making no meal, making an okay meal or creating a masterpiece of flavorful delight. The ingredients are all the same, it’s pulling it all together properly that is the trick.
The reality is that if you look at most endeavors that are successful, they are really driven by certain fundamentals that are pretty simple. Employee retention strategies are pretty much the same way. Are you avoiding micromanaging? Are you there for your employees? Are you available when and employee needs you? Do you listen to your employees? Do you tell them when they do a good job? None of the things I just listed are complex. They are simple. Yet, in many, many cases we simply neglect to do them, or we don’t do them well when we attempt to do them.
Giving your employees C.R.A.P. is simple. Pulling it all together, and doing it well is just not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it and employee retention would be far better than it is. Remember…Give Your Employees C.R.A.P. Why? Because C.R.A.P Works!
