How To Retain Top Talent

Many MSPs are having issues with employee retention in today’s economy, which isn’t necessarily bad news. If you’re having a tough time finding quality employees, so are in-house IT departments. Overall, if you play your cards right, the good could outweigh the bad, but to take advantage of the market’s current conditions, you’ll need to be able to increase your employee retention rate effectively — and that’s not always easy to do.

In more than 22 years, I’ve owned three companies, and what I’ve learned about retaining industry talent over time can be broken down into a several key components.

Do you have well-defined roles?

Review how you’re defining roles within your organization. Are they well-defined? If not, you could be missing out on a higher employee retention rate. Also, the truth of the matter is this: Businesses lacking well-defined roles oftentimes struggle with low employee morale. Don’t put unnecessary strains on your employees by forcing them to jump in and out of roles in your business.

For example, let’s take a look at TruMethods’ service delivery areas: centralized services, vCIO, professional services, technology alignment and service desk. Some MSPs, especially the smaller ones, try to span their employees across several delivery service roles. We at TruMethods don’t recommend this, but if you’re small and don’t have a lot of resources, just be careful. Clearly define each role and have your employees fit into as few roles as possible. If someone from your business is in multiple delivery roles, be sure it makes sense. Be careful mixing proactive delivery service roles.

Do your meetings have rhythm?

Your meetings need to have rhythm. Are you holding them on an ongoing basis? Are all of your team members included? They should be, and during these meetings, it’s your responsibility to report metrics and progress towards goals. Want your employees to feel accountable? Get your employees excited about your growth strategy by keeping them informed of your company’s achievements.

What’s my higher purpose?

You need to give your employees something to work toward (besides money, of course). Think about it this way: Each role in your company is made up of three things — the core, the results and the essence. The core is made up of the metrics and process that make up the role; the results are how the role impacts customers, employees and the company as a whole; and the essence is the spirit of the role that connects the core to the results. When team members understand the essence of their roles, they find more passion and purpose in their work — benefiting everyone.

Be a leader, not a manager.

Unlike managers, leaders ensure their employees are in positions to reach their full potentials. Leaders also share strong visions and core values with employees, and help team members become leaders in their own ways. Become someone your employees look up to, and they’ll follow you along your business journey.

Retaining employees in this economy isn’t easy, but if you follow my recommendations above, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your business’s employee retention rate.

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TOPICS: MSP processesMSP trainingtop managed service provider
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