How to keep your employee like a lost coin

I discussed letting go of an employee who wants to leave your organization in a previous post. But in this article, let’s look at how you can persuade your employee to stay if his/her reason for leaving is something that is related to their working conditions, and it is within your capacity to fix it.

As a business owner, you shouldn’t let your employees leave because you are not willing to listen to their concerns. Employee retention is key for building a sustainable business. And don’t expect employees to be loyal to an organization that isn’t concerned about their welfare.

We can learn from the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15:8-10;

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’”

There is a time when an employee wants to leave your business, you have to do what it takes to make them stay as long as it is within your ability. The lost coin parable includes action plans we can learn from, “…she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”

Unlike the prodigal son story, where you have everything in place and the employee still wants to leave, there is no point convincing anybody to stay in your organization when they are leaving for no fault of yours.

But here, you’re responsible for them leaving the organization and you need to take the necessary steps to keep them.

The First action is to light a lamp which means shining the light in dark areas in your organization. Are there issues that haven’t been addressed? No more letting the carpet cover them, it’s time to uncover them and address them one after the other.

For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.

Mark 4:22

The second action is to sweep the house, this means to clean up the organization of things that hinders motivation and productivity. As a business leader, you should be sensitive to your employees’ needs, check up on them regularly to determine their pain points.

The third action is to search carefully until you find it. This means attention to detail till the right solution that satisfies your employee’s concern.

and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’

Matthew 20:4

Take away: Retaining your employees takes resilience and determination but in the end, it brings joy to everyone involved in the organization.