You have searched high and low, you have recruited, interviewed, selected, and negotiated to the point where you have your new employee and then finally you have put her through a formal new hire orientation and training program, you have assigned her a mentor and now she is a full fledged member of your team. You have done everything right. Bravo!

But now comes the greatest challenge of all. How do you retain this newest of team members for the long haul? How do you keep him with you learning, growing, and finally contributing for years to come?

You now have to enter into the nurturing phase of your new team member. Actually, if you have done things right over the years, your company should already have a caring and nurturing culture that applies to all of your team members. You should have systems that ensure that everyone on your team is always kept passionately engaged in their positions and the company as well.

This, in the end, is what really matters. If you think about it, a company that is capable of keeping its employees engaged and passionate about staying with them for years to come is a company that is doing the right things.

But I warn you, it is not easy. Here are the five things you and every company must do to make sure their employees are so engaged, so committed that they will want to be a part of that company for years to come.

1. Show them the “why” of the company. Why is the company in business? Every single person in the company has to know why the company exists. Why was it started. What needs does it fill and how does it continually meet that need today. Every company, every organization has to have a purpose…a strong purpose and if the people in the company, the people at all levels do not understand what that purpose is, they will fail.
2. Show them the role they play in that “why” of the company. What is their part? Everyone needs to feel that they matter. And the best and frankly the only way for your employees to know that they matter is if they understand the purpose of the company and the role they plan in continually making that purpose a reality.
3. Show them the future. Or better yet, make them a part of that future. Someone once said that wars are in the end not fought for money, they are not fought for personal gain, nope in the end wars are fought the hardest for pieces of clothes, flags, that is why people fight wars for their nations, for their people, for each other. Just turn on the news tonight and check out the coverage of the war in Ukraine if you have any doubts. Well, the same thing applies to companies. If people understand  their company’s purpose, the company’s vision. If that can be conveyed to them so that it is actually a part of their own psyche then they will be with you 150% for a long time. This is what has to be kept in front of all of your team at all times
4. They need to feel they are contributing. Your employees have to be heard. Their opinions, their ideas have to be solicited and heeded. If you want your team to be fully committed you have to make them feel that they are important, that they are indeed truly appreciated contributors to the company’s mission. If you can make them feel that way, that will make them even more committed to the cause, the purpose, the mission.
5. And finally the most important word of all and that word is respect or as Aretha would say R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Respect. They have to be respected and they have to be shown that the company culture is always one of respect for one another. Once that is established your company will actually create a cocoon of confidence where everyone knows that they matter; everyone knows that the company has a purpose and that they are significant contributors to that purpose and that in the end they operate in the safety of mutual respect. That they work in an atmosphere where they understand that tremendous, mind boggling things can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.

These are the things that matter if you are going to have a successful company, a company where the entire team is working together for the good of their customers, their company and yes in the end each other. It’s only common sense.