Finding talent in today’s job market can seem almost impossible. While there may be a lot of applicants, sifting through to find the perfect match may be a challenge. Once you find talent, how do you hold on to it?

Creating and sustaining a loyal and high-performing team takes effort on both the employer and employee side. Here are some ways that you can build and maintain a successful practice that incorporates the talent of your team: meet the emotional and financial needs of your employees, establish verbal or written compliments, create processes that align with your business, and remember the risks involved.

Meet the emotional and financial needs of your employees: Just like you want to choose the right employee, employees also want to choose the right employer. By making an employee feel valued, they have a higher chance of long-term employment and being happy in their workplace. Meeting financial needs is about being competitive in salary ranges, offering promotions and advancement opportunities when needed. The current labor pool is worried that they won’t be able to make their financial obligations, especially with inflation, higher rent, and the impact the economy has on the job force. Emotional needs consist of listening, being open to feedback, having weekly meetings with your team, and being transparent.

According to Gallup, 85% of individuals worldwide are dissatisfied with their jobs. This disengagement costs companies up to $550 billion annually in the United States alone and results in a 33% decrease in earnings. Unhappy workers also show 10% less productivity than engaged coworkers.

Establish verbal or written compliments: Do you praise your employees? Verbal and written compliments are a huge part of employee satisfaction. If you value your team and want them to be successful, although it may be foreign, expressing appreciation is a must. Appreciation empowers your team, validates your trust in them, and lets them know they are supported. With praise comes a new sense of work satisfaction, confidence, and a newfound happiness.

50% of employees voluntarily leave their companies due to bad management while 79% cite lack of appreciation as a reason for leaving.

It is a scientific fact that the firms that regularly and openly apply appreciation to their attorneys produce much productive and excellent quality work and it makes good business sense.

Establish processes: Why are processes in the workplace so important? They provide consistency, an understanding of the direction the business is going, and a way to continuously improve your law practice. Creating and implementing new processes can be difficult for some so it’s important that you are transparent and explain the need for change. Envision the end result, ask your team for feedback, and promote your vision. By creating solid processes, you are able to create accountability, transparency, and overcome challenges.

Most business processes will need improvement over time. Processes that do not fulfill business goals cause financial losses, frustration, and delays. Continuous review and optimization of business processes are essential to building a sustainable business.

Remember risks: There will always be risks involved in the hiring process, from both the employer and employee side. As an employer, it’s important that you are prepared in the interview, know what questions to ask, and make sure that you have an onboarding process.

Implement the above steps to ensure that you are keeping quality talent, building a great team that you can trust, and meet the needs of your team. It’s important that you are consistent in all aspects of the hiring, training, and continuous improvement of your team members.

Any new employee that you hire can be a risk, it may not work out for one reason or another, so it’s certainly worth preparing for the risks that come with hiring great talent.

Creating and sustaining a loyal and high-performing team takes effort. We hope that you can incorporate compliments, establish new and improved processes while taking in the risks, and meet the emotional and financial needs of your employees.

• Author Details

Abbie Guerrero

Abbie Guerrero

Assistant Marketing Manager/Resource Advisor

Abbie joined the Atticus team in 2021 with more than a decade of digital marketing experience. She is results driven and has an extensive background in content creation, lead generation, understanding the customer development process, solving problems, and advertising. She is an expert at building relationships and sets high quality expectations. She loves to set and exceed personal and professional goals.

Abbie is currently the Resource Advisor for Atticus livestream webinars and workshops. In addition to her Resource Advisor role, she is the Assistant Marketing Manager. In this role she leads the strategy for digital marketing, creates content for weekly newsletters, all advertising campaigns and executes many ad hoc marketing projects.

Abbie has her bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Utah Valley University. She is a blogger and published author and enjoys spending time with her family in both Utah and California.