How to find (and keep) great employees ...

A friend of mine has a small graphic design business. She's really talented and wants to expand. When she hires someone new, usually a recent college grad, she spends considerable time training them only for them to leave in a short time (sometimes a year). It's really frustrating for her. She pays as well as she can afford. She splits their health insurance costs and gives 2 weeks of vacation.

She recently hired someone with more experience but they needed a lot of flexibility with child care (she meets with clients in the evenings, sometimes).

What attracts you to a job and keeps you there?

Re: How to find (and keep) great employees ...

Salary, and Opportunity for growth are primary and Benefits and flexibility is secondary. That is assuming the position is what I want to be doing, fulfilling and Im not miserable in my position. If any of those last 3 apply, Im going to be looking regardless of the first 4 being met.

If she is hiring Entry Level, they will ALWAYS move on. Thats the nature of an entry level job, its a starting block. Unless there is room for growth and a pay increase, I would expect they will continue to leave for a better opportunity.

Message edited 2/25/2016 2:42:20 PM.

Re: How to find (and keep) great employees ...

when you are a small business and hire a recent graduate, you have to expect they will move on, unless your business totally starts booming

When i graduated, I was working for a designer...it was a small company and i handled almost all of the back end work so she could focus on designing. it was a great experience while i was there...but after a year+ it was time for me to take what I learned and utilize it elsewhere because I did not see the company expanding enough to keep me interested

The pay needs to be within reason - yes she has to pay what she can afford, but she also needs to try to remain competitive if she wants to keep someone long term. The person she hires needs to believe in the business as much as she does and needs to see that there IS a future there and that the company IS growing

Message edited 2/25/2016 3:21:56 PM.

How to find (and keep) great employees ...

Agree with the PP. Anytime you hire entry level fresh out of college don't expect them to last longer than a year or two.

I work for a big corporation and we have the same issue here. All the hires that are entry level college grads either get promoted or move on within 2 years.

Re: How to find (and keep) great employees ...

This doesn't answer your question but it's an option for your friend.


Being it's a graphic design business, has she considered hiring freelancers as 1099 for jobs instead of having them work as FT employees w benefits?

I'm a graphic designer and every place I worked as an employee was always a stepping stone to something bigger. and some offered great benefits. But I do so much better working from home. So now I work strictly from home and get hired as 1099. I have a steady freelance job for the past 7 years which is my main income. But I also take on new jobs as they come.


That may be a better option for her. This business is a little tricky for office workers.

Other option may be to hire older people. I used to work for Pennysaver and there were plenty of women going back to work after kids were grown. They weren't looking for bigger better things. they just wanted a fair wage and constant work.

You can FM me if you have any questions !