Keeping your engineering staff professionally satisfied and inspired plays a big role in the overall success of your company. Compensation definitely factors into this employee happiness equation. In fact, awarding raises and other financial bonuses without being prompted is one approach worthy of exploration.
Let’s take a closer look at the best practices when it comes to giving raises to your employees. Your focus needs to be taking your engineering firm’s retention rate to an ever higher level.
Some Managers Want Their Staff to Ask for Raises
There are some managers in the business world – engineering included – who feel employees should ask for their own raises. They want to see an employee document their accomplishments while detailing how they added value to the organization over the last year. Finally, they must determine the amount of their raise.
Other engineering leaders disagree with this approach. Instead, they feel employees need to be rewarded without being forced to ask. When considering the competitive staffing situation for hiring engineers, keeping them happy and focused on work is more important.
Engineers tend to be busier than most employees in the overall workforce. Taking the time out of their project work to document their own value and ask for a raise simply wastes their efforts. A mature engineering shop should already have the reporting metrics in place to track employee value.
Expert Managers Feel Raises Need to Be Awarded Without Asking
Once again, in a competitive industry where companies with a skills gap quickly fall behind, employee retention is paramount. As one manager states: “Think about the function that raises serve for you as a manager: Ultimately, they’re about attracting and retaining great employees.” This manager also expects more reserved engineers to avoid asking for raises.
Ultimately, your organization’s overall compensation package – including salary and raises, bonuses, as well as other perks like tuition reimbursement and flexible work schedules – plays an important role in building a great company culture. The costs incurred in the staffing process require a strong focus on retention. Forcing your engineers to ask for their own raises is simply a poor management strategy.
The bottom line is simple: Pay a fair salary and regularly award raises to ensure you are able to attract and retain the best engineers.
When you need additional insights on building a great engineering team, talk with the experts at Venteon. As one of the top technical staffing agencies in Michigan, we supply the candidates to help you succeed. Click here to contact us today.
