Subtle Employee Retention Tactics

Companies uses a multitude of subtle tactics designed to retain employees. These are by no means secrets but they may not be obvious to some. I’ve identified a few for you below:

• Insurances. Dental/Vision/Medical … insurances, which you pay part of in most cases, are an obvious hook for employee retention.
• RRSP/401K. The RRSP/401K offering from companies varies but it’s another way for companies to entice new-comer and retain older ones.
• Seniority. Senior resources may have a more advantageous parking spot, take priority when it comes to taking vacations or get first dibs on incoming projects.
• Raises. Small raises, every year, is another way to keep employees around for longer.
• Additional Vacation Days. Some companies will give additional vacation days based on the years you’ve worked for them.
• Severance package. A severance package is basically money the company gives you when you leave. Some companies, for example, will give a month’s pay per year you’ve worked for them. So if you decide to quit (or you got a layoff), after 10 years, you get 10 months pay from the company.
• Work from Home. Working from home can also be a way to retain employees. This can be even more appealing with employees that have kids.
• Social Activities/Employee Moral. Paid company event such as Bowling, Paintball or night at the bar, which are aimed at keeping the moral of the employees high, are also ways to keep the employees around for longer.
• Bonus. Bonuses, in all of it’s form, are also ways to keep the employees around. This also help motivate the employee to accomplish more. It can be in the form of “Employee of the Month”, extra vacation, money, miscs gifts ...etc

What other subtle tactics have you noticed in the workplace? Obviously, it is sometime not enough to keep employees but it’s not difficult to know why they were put in place.

Health for Granted - Until It's Gone

Too often, people take their health for granted. They smoke, eat badly, don't exercise ... all is fine until it's not.
Why do we still have so many people smoke cigarettes today when it has been proven that smoking cause health issues.

I've been in contact with people that have told me that their health was important to them while they were lighting up a cigarette.
If your health is important to you, you have to prove it with actions rather than words and there's a pretty extensive list that you have to follow.
If you, for example, eat healthy but still smoke cigarettes - it means that you don't care about your health.

Health is not about looking like a magazine cover. It's about paying attention to what you consume and do with your body. Don't take your health for granted because you will regret it once it starts to fade away.

Stop Drinking Sugary Drinks

Clever marketing campaigns have sold people on the idea that things such has diet sodas are healthy. While we can argue that they are an healthier alternative than the sugar packed regular sodas, they are definitely not healthy.

A recent study has shown that diet soda may be linked to an increase risk of strokes and other diseases.

I would argue that the term "diet" should be removed from the diet soda cans altogether. Nobody, who's serious about dieting, have included such items as diet sodas as part of their diets.
One of the problems with the sugar derivatives (other than the potential health risks), such as Aspartame, is the fact that they are sweeter to the taste than regular sugars and it increases our craving for more sugar as a result.

Sugar is a drug with the power to kill us when consumed in large amounts.

Instead of drinking sugary drinks - why not just add slice of lemons or oranges to regular water? Or try non sugary sparkly water?