How to Keep Star Employees By Setting Them Free

Have you ever seen someone use a finger trap for the first time? Their initial instinct to get free by pulling their finger out makes total sense in principle. They want to move in a particular direction, so that’s where the force goes. Unfortunately, the trap’s mechanism is deliberately counterintuitive. Before they can escape, they must push their finger farther in.

In the world of employment, instinct is similarly misleading. When you want someone to stay, you can feel an urge to distract them from alternatives: keep them busy, lock them into a rigid schedule, and remind them that the job needs their full attention (with no time for other things). To use another metaphor, you want to keep the stable doors closed so the horses can’t escape.

In truth, achieving an impressive level of employee retention requires a steady willingness to go in the opposite direction. Instead of limiting a star worker’s options, you should expand them. Instead of getting in their way, you should set them free. In this post, we’re going to explain a few tactics for earning loyalty by loosening the corporate reins. Let’s get started.

Grant Them Much Greater Autonomy

If you’re still clinging firmly to the 9-to-5 paradigm, you’re woefully behind the times. It made sense back before the internet was created, of course: work had to be done during the day using shared resources, and it was necessary to have a standardized framework so partnering businesses could most effectively align their goals. It was, in fact, intended to prevent workers from being exploited, as Bestlift neatly details. But that was a long time ago.

Today, business is international, and this applies across industries, including premium MNC companies. Furthermore, old formalities have fallen away over the years. The average C-suite professional is no longer fixated upon executive office attire or traditional displays of dedication. Instead, they care more about results, with the process through which those results are achieved being relatively insignificant.

Due to this, you should move past any notion that your best employees need to be restricted in this way. There’s no industry pressure for it, and there’s no practical need for it. If you trust someone enough to hire them, and their results speak for themselves, then give them the autonomy to decide how they want to work. Late at night? Early in the morning? In sprints or extended blocks? Even the systems don’t matter that much. Let go.

Make The Office Just One Option of Many

Since the pandemic made office life challenging and revealed how unnecessary it can be, plenty of companies have gone fully remote. That’s a viable choice at this stage, but is it what you should do? Well, it isn’t the ideal arrangement. After all, some professionals prefer to work in offices: it keeps their concentration high and gives them opportunities for in-person interaction. 

Instead of doing away with this office altogether, then, you should simply cut back and make working in the office just one option available to your workers. Get a smaller office, or start using shared office space, then let your workers pick where they want to work. Using a shared office space scheme will even allow you to provide options in different parts of the country. Someone on the cusp of burnout can benefit significantly from working elsewhere for a while.

You don’t need to stop at the national border, in fact. If a standout employee is getting antsy because they feel cooped up, you do have the option of having them live abroad while continuing to work for you. There’s such a thing as an Employer of Record service that can handle all the legal and payroll matters for you. It’ll cost you, of course, but it may be worth it if the employee is essential and determined to move overseas and work abroad (plus there are benefits to having overseas workers, such as fresh networking options).

Actively Support Their Personal Goals

Maybe letting someone work from halfway across the world is a step too far for you. It isn’t for everyone, certainly. But even if that’s true, you can still find ways to support your top workers’ personal goals. If you can look after them as people, they’ll feel loyal to you as professionals. It’s a simple note but one that proves true time and time again. So how can you help? Well, you need to start asking the right questions and paying close attention to the answers. 

Professionals generally refrain from discussing their individual goals with their employers, seeing them as irrelevant and assuming that any focus on their lives outside work will be seen as indicating diminished commitment. The onus is on you, then, to get the ball rolling. Reach out to your workers and explain that you want to do more to support them — and not just because it’ll benefit your bottom line, but because you want them to be happy.

Maybe your top seller is planning a marathon run and could use some general encouragement from the team (and perhaps even a sponsorship, though you need to be careful as the sponsorships can quickly add up). Maybe your standout social marketer is planning a big party for their partner and wants some help getting the organization done.

Taking some time to help when you don’t need to will show that you care, and that the last thing you want to do is get in anyone’s way. Knowing that they’re free to think about personal projects during work will help your employees relax — and since they’re inevitably already thinking about them with the addition of some fruitless guilt, it likely won’t impact productivity whatsoever.

Conclusion: The Freedom to Thrive

To sum up, the key to keeping your star employees lies in setting them free rather than constraining them. By granting greater autonomy, offering flexible work options, and actively supporting their personal goals, you create an environment where they can thrive both professionally and personally. This approach not only fosters loyalty but also enhances productivity and satisfaction.

Remember, employees are not just resources; they are individuals with unique needs and aspirations. When you acknowledge and support these needs, you build a stronger, more committed team. So, let go of outdated notions of control and embrace a culture of trust and freedom. Your star employees will not only stay but also excel, driving your organization to greater heights.

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A UK-based digital copywriter, Matt is a skilled and passionate scribe with a keen interest in an array of subjects; his varied written work can range from deliberations on advances in the tech industry to recommendations about the top wildlife-spotting destinations. When he doesn’t have his fingers attached to a keyboard, you’ll likely find him hunting down obscure soul records, professing (inaccurately) to be an expert on craft beer, or binge-watching documentaries about sharks.