How to help your staff be heard

It's particularly frustrating for a company to lose some of its most productive and prized staff members – and enterprises often end up in the position where they wonder, 'but why did they leave?'

As the latest generation hits the workforce, employee and employer expectations have in some cases become more polarised – and the key lies in negotiating these differences to find a comfortable middle ground.

Caroline James, writing for The Age on July 31, posed that Generation Y may need more freedom in the workplace to express their talents and ideas.  If this is allowed and taken on board then staff may be more committed to the company, and therefore more productive. If not – this generation of workers is completely comfortable changing directions and leaving to pursue another, more rewarding path.

So what can you do as a company to avoid losing the pool of talent that lies in Generation Y?

For one, you can make sure that their voices are heard. Employee surveys are a good place to start, so you can gauge how your staff are feeling about any number of topics. In this case, it's a good idea to ask if they feel like their voices and ideas are being heard by their seniors. As well as this, it can be wise to ask if they feel they can approach more senior staff with the expectation not only of being heard, but that their suggestions will be taken seriously, too. You never know what hidden innovation is just sitting in wait at the desks of your office.

It's also worth asking how your employees feel about their working arrangements. Being cooperative with flexible working arrangements is one way in which you may consider improving employee retention, as the ability to be able to juggle family and personal commitments with work is an appealing one for many job-seekers and staff.