In nearly 14 years of leading my own small business and offering fractional HR support to other small employers, one thing stands out. Employers who retain talent consistently offer their employees the ability to learn things they couldn’t at a larger org.
When building compensation and engagement strategies, I tell clients this. As a small employer, in order to be able to compete for talent, you have to either give them the ability to earn or learn. Either pay what your larger competitors are offering and provide the same level of benefits or provide the ability to work on projects and learn things they wouldn’t in a larger org with many people doing that work already.
When we have a new employee start in our organization, I have all team members introduce themselves and share what they enjoy about working here. Without fail, most of them say the variety and learning opportunities they received. While I will put my comp and benefits up against any org similarly situated to ours, I know they do not compete with my much larger competitors or even in-house offerings if my team decided to go back to that. But what I know they receive here that they would not receive elsewhere is a learning opportunity that only comes when you are working with a variety of clients, in a variety of industries and with a variety of needs.
This is a unique super power of small orgs. So much has to get done with so little resources. Those resources often have the opportunity to work on job enlargement projects that often can completely take them out of their main focus expanding their knowledge tremendously.
Some of this happens organically in a small org, while some things need to be more deliberate.
Cross-Functional Experience
In a small employer, it’s ok that employees wear multiple hats. Not only is it ok, but it’s pretty commonplace. This works so well because employees gain diverse skills and a holistic understanding of the business, which is so rare in larger, more siloed organizations.
Ownership of Projects
There is often so much to do in a small org that you do not have a dedicated employee to do. Assigning projects to employees, even if it is out of their expertise can be a great way to develop leadership and problem-solving skills. We once had a client assign the task of developing their website to a finance person. Could not be more completely out of the realm, but the person mentioned always being interested in learning it and this was their chance. They killed it. When you align personal interest with things that need to be done, employees will embrace it and usually knock it out of the park.
Agility in Role Customization
You have probably heard the term skills based hiring or role development thrown around. Small orgs have been doing this for years. Similar to the above item, when you build roles around employee strengths and interests rather than rigid, traditional job descriptions, you can get much more done with greater levels of employee satisfaction.
Intrapreneurship Opportunities
I firmly believe that being an entrepreneur is the best real life MBA you can get. I knew how to do very little around leading a business when I started, but if you want to grow, you have to figure it out. While you may not be able to give employees the full experience of starting a business, you can give them opportunities to innovate or experiment with new ideas of processes. Sharing the goals of what you are trying to achieve, the budget impact and then letting them run with it, provides real life experience that provides fresh ideas and a better understanding from all employees on the inner workings of the business.
Recognize Growth Publicly
As with anything, the more you praise in public, the more employees want to do things that get them praised in public. When doing leadership development I often share that while we all think we are grown adults, in reality we are toddlers who love being told we are doing a good job. Simple recognition goes a long way in keeping employees motivated and engaged.
Creating a learning culture in a small org is one major strategy to keeping talent engaged and productive. Giving employees continual growth through both organic and deliberate learning opportunities where their work is fulfilling will keep them around much longer than excellent pay and benefits will. While paying fairly is important and I don’t want to diminish that, small orgs who lean into their unique environment where employees can learn so much will thrive even in a tough job market and economy.