How to Co-Create Your Dream Job with the Universe

Many of us choose our careers based on what we think is available to us rather than based on what we really want deep down. How do I know this? Because over the years I’ve conducted countless interviews and counseled countless people in my former professions, and almost always when I ask someone what they WANT to do, they give me a list of jobs they think they can get. Which is not what I’m asking!

I’m asking, “What do you want to do?”

It should be simple, right? But without meaning to, we can limit our options based on the job ads we are seeing, or the positions we’ve heard about.

So when I say, “What do you really want to do?” Most often I get, “There is a job where I would do x, and another one where I would do y, but I don’t know if either are right for me.” Or, the big one I’m hearing lately “I want to do something with meaning.” Save

I want to do something with meaning.

Manifest Dream Job

I think deep down we all want to do something meaningful. But what is meaningful to me, is not the same as what is meaningful for you.

Which is why you need to really get specific. You must do your soul searching BEFORE your job hunting. Otherwise, each new position will end the same. With you feeling like something is missing and looking for a new job (see: How to Thrive When You’re Super Ready to Quit).

Or, the universe will start to end your jobs for you. Layoffs or company closures. You will find yourself in the position where you have to find a new job many times.

It’s really the universe helping you align with your soul’s mission.

They want you to succeed! Your soul does not want you to spend time where you are unhappy or unfulfilled. You came here to do something specific and they will help you stay on course (see: You Did Not Come Here to Play It Safe).

HOWEVER, and this is key, you get to choose your career as long as it’s aligned with your soul’s mission. You get to choose!

It’s CO-CREATION.

The universe will only take you so far, and then you have to make the decisions.Save

HOW TO NARROW IT DOWN AND GET SPECIFIC

Eliminate Distractions

You have to completely block out what you think you can do for a job, and get quiet and ask “What do I really want to do?”

Try meditating, or clearing your head by exercising, yoga, or walking in nature and then ask:

“If I knew I could be anything in the world, I would be __________________.”

“If I knew I couldn’t fail I would __________________________.”

“What does my heart want me to do?

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Make a List

Then sit down and list your strengths and weaknesses. Any that come to mind. Don’t think about what you think employers want or how it fits a job, just list them. For example:

Strengths – Work well with others. Love to organize information. Great with numbers. Can see the outcome of a situation well in advance, etc.

Weaknesses – hate the structure of an office, don’t like writing, love being part of a team but really need alone time too, am uncomfortable enforcing rules I don’t believe in, etc.

You should start to see a pattern. This will become your master list! This will become your “order” for the universe!

With the strengths and weakness above this person may love working remotely a few days a week and coming into an office a few days a week to feel part of the team. Both interaction and alone time. Great with numbers – accounting, payroll, finance, so many options. “Can see outcomes,” maybe finance is a strong fit because he/she would be able to make predictions with the numbers.

Knowing what you would do if you could do anything at all, if you knew you couldn’t fail – plus really drilling down and being honest about your strengths and weaknesses, will help you draw the work to you that’s most aligned with where you are TODAY, rather than choose from options that are not lighting you up.Save

MAKE YOUR MASTER LIST!

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You should end up with a list of everything you want to do in the order of importance. No job is perfect but you need to know which items you can live with and which you cannot. Say there’s no way you will commute over 30 minutes per day. That should be on the non-negotiables and you shouldn’t even interview at companies an hour away because you know you won’t be happy (unless you are open to moving).

Once you know what you really want to do, and you know what you absolutely do not want to do, you will end up creating your dream job rather than trying to fit into one that may be restrictive.

I can feel you saying, “Nicole. It doesn’t work that way. I’m an _____________ and there are only three types of jobs for me,” or something along those lines. But I’m telling you, it does work this way!

You need ask for what you want, and in order to do that you need to really know what you want. Or at the very least, what you really love so you can get a majority of that in your work life.

I will say it has to be aligned with your talents though. If say you want to be a professional guitar player, and you’ve never played the guitar, you’re going to have an issue. In that case you will need to take lessons and work your way to that goal and it may take time.

If that’s the case, where you can see your end goal but have work to do to get there, you can ask the universe, “What can I do now that will help me earn a living as I work toward my goal, for the highest and greatest good?”

There’s nothing worse than having an occupation that lowers your vibration by day, and trying to high vibe up again at night to fulfill your passion. You need a high vibe occupation as you grow, or find a way to keep your vibes high when you are there (read: Manage Your Energy Like a Boss in Your Workplace).

If you are trying to figure out your DREAM JOB, you may like Write Your Future which includes a guide to get clarity on your calling. It’s what helped me co-create this business at a time when I was stuck between two worlds – the traditional workplace and my newly awakened self.

When you think about job hunting, it is really like dating. If you date someone who never wants kids, and you really want them, it’s going to end at some point.

The same goes for jobs, if you know you want to be an entrepreneur and have that flexibility and freedom, and you take a job with a micromanager, it is not going to end well.

Or the opposite, if you want a manager to really train you and show you the business and you take a job with someone who wants to be completely hands off, it won’t work out either.

Place an order with the universe! Like those delis that have a list for you to make your sandwich. They list every single ingredient and then you go down the list and check off mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce, well you get the point.

To be clear you don’t order the universe around, you put in your wish list. You put in what you think will most help you find meaningful work. What type of boss you love, what type of environment best supports you. Then give the universe time to come up with it. You can even say, “Universe, please show me what will most align with my talents.” Then be open to what starts appearing in your field. There may be a new career or business that you couldn’t have even dreamed up!

The reason you need your master list is because when the opportunities come in, you want to be able to assess them. If there’s no way you can work in an office, then you know that about yourself and you won’t entertain that in a job. If you love to write, then you won’t take a job that has nothing to do with writing. Having your master list will help you stay on course.

And lastly, know what you want to be paid BEFORE your first phone interview. Never leave money on the table because you asked for too little or eliminate yourself from the running because you asked for too much (READ: Energetically Crush it at Your Next Salary Negotiation).

Trust me when I say that the person who really knows what they want, does so much better in an interview than one who doesn’t. The one who can consistently say why they are such a great fit for your position comes out on top!

The one who is looking for you to help them figure out their skill set and why they applied, doesn’t usually make it past the phone interview. Because if they don’t know why they should work at your job, then you don’t know either! After all, you are just meeting them for the first time and it’s usually over the phone.

Figure out what you truly, deep down want, make a list and work with the universe to come up with something spectacular. Just because it’s work and you have to make a living, doesn’t mean it can’t be inspiring and have meaning.

If you are truly stuck, then don’t wait another second to ask the universe to show you what else you can do now. Sometimes we have to reach for the next best job to keep working our way toward the end goal. Like a ladder to the really high vibe, fulfilling career.

Admit what you want, soul search for it if you don’t know what you want, and then co-create it. You can do it!

Have you already co-created a career that you didn’t think existed? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

nicole strychaz Save

If you’re ready to amp up your Co-Creation, check out THIS mini-course that shows you how to do it!

Write Your Future

Manifest Dream Job

Nicole is the founder of The Awakened Professional™ and the Awakened Workplace™. You can find her hosting The Awakened Professional podcast and sharing tips to integrate spirituality with your life’s work as well as writing Intuitive Copy for Spiritual Entrepreneurs to help them align & be magnetic to their soul clients. Get the FREE Guide to Attract Soul Clients.. Read more...

Before You Terminate an Employee Always Assume This! (and what you can do instead)

Before you terminate an employee, always assume this! They haven’t heard you.

I say this to every manager and every time they are surprised when they employee says they had no idea it was coming.

I don’t know what it is but if you haven’t sat down and officially written up your employee prior to their termination, you can almost guarantee they haven’t heard you. They will say they didn’t know it was that serious.

It’s as if those conversations happened but then evaporated into the ethers!

OR, maybe you weren’t as clear as you thought. After all, these conversations are uncomfortable and not at all easy at first.

Managers will come to me all the time at the end of their rope, beyond frustrated with their non-performer and ready to pull the trigger and make them “available to industry.”

I always ask the same things –

Have you written them up (Performance Improvement Plan)?
Have you been clearly following up your expectations after the discussions in an email which they confirm?
What is the protocol for terminations in your employee handbook?

If they haven’t done the write ups, it’s almost a sure thing that it went in one ear and out the other.

To be fair, the person who is not performing in a role is not usually the one who you have one conversation with and it never happens again. I’m talking about the one who you are repeatedly stating the expectations and they are repeatedly falling short.

Say, for example, they are supposed to bring in three new clients a month and four months have passed and they haven’t brought in one. You’ve checked their understanding, you’ve given them ideas for marketing and you’ve even sent them leads. Yet, nothing. That’s who I am discussing.

Most likely they are in the wrong role for themselves. I’ve seen people cling to jobs clearly not meant for them only to go on to do something different and succeed.

When I say “cling,” I mean continue to come in everyday, probably late, say they are going to get results and not get results. Maybe they also take long lunches, call out sick every Monday – Do everything but quit!

They are the ones who when you go to officially terminate them they will say they had no idea and didn’t see it coming.

You will want to make sure you’ve had the conversations.

You will want to make sure you’ve followed up in email. “This is to confirm the conversation we had today. You are expected to bring in three new clients every month. Please acknowledge your understanding by responding to this email.”

If that doesn’t work, you will want to give them a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan).

If you’ve followed the steps above, when you go to terminate them it should be no surprise. They should say “I know. You’ve told me,” instead of “I had no idea!”

Where I struggle as an HR professional facing an employee termination, is that the manager thinks they have clearly communicated and is usually at the point where they do not want to do anything additional. They are over it!

When I ask for any written support to show they’ve had these tough conversations, there is nothing. I hate telling them that even though they’ve probably had a hundred conversations with that person, if they can’t show it in writing, it’s almost as if it never happened. It’s your word against their word!

Now, many people like to tell me it’s “at-will” employment, to which I say “Yes! It is.” EXCEPT, the unwritten law is that you can terminate anyone at any time for any reason AS LONG AS IT’S NOT THE WRONG REASON. The problem is that “wrong” is subjective.

Can they say you let them go because they were of a specific ethnicity? Old? Any protected category? Can they say you didn’t follow your own employee handbook protocol for terminations?

That’s where the written communications come in handy.

Not only to protect you legally, but something about receiving communications that feel “official” start to move the employee into action on an energetic level.

Either they will get the point that this is now serious and start to step up to the plate, or they may start interviewing on the side which is great. It shows a shift. Maybe they’ll be getting their resume ready so they can spring into action if terminated.

Or, by the time you sit down to give them a PIP, they may quit right then and there because they see the writing on the wall. At that time you can decide to part more amicably and help them transition their work out of respect for their honesty. Maybe buy out their two weeks notice and allow them to leave?

All those are better scenarios than them being surprised and you having no way to show you’ve attempted to get through to them. You definitely don’t want to trigger any hostility.

Making sure you’ve been heard can make it a “gentle termination” instead of an abrupt and potentially disgruntled one. You don’t want an employee out there angry and hostile toward you any more than you want them on the job making mistake after mistake.

Clear communication. Written acknowledgement on their end demonstrating understanding.

Gentle.

Proof you’ve been heard.

Time for it to sink in with them.

Not shocking.

As with any termination, before you hand them their final check you should consider running it by an attorney, to be on the safe side.

And of course, spending the time on the front end on how you hire and doing your due diligence is always a good idea!

Really getting specific about your needs and hiring well helps with turnover more than anything else!

XOXO,

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Manage Your Energy Like a Boss in the Workplace

Work/life is inherently stressful. It just is. But I honestly believe a majority of this stress comes from our interaction with others via working together, emails, phone calls or conversations.

Which is really our energetic fields coming in contact with other people’s energetic fields.

We can take on the stress of our boss, the financial fears of our spouses, irritability from the excessive noise of the kids if we work from home with them, an angry customer’s complaint, haters on social media, and even the negative energy of a co-worker.

Have you ever wondered why you can start work in such a great mood and by lunch you are dying to get out to eat something greasy and feel the need to vent about your day?

Or you start out happy with your smoothie and 10-minutes in to answering work emails you are feeling stressed?

Often, you’ve absorbed more than your share of lower vibrations and your body/mind is trying to cope.

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Wherever your work space is, if you are interacting with customers, co-workers or the public in any way, you can learn to manage your energy “like a boss” so that you aren’t subject to the energetic vampires, haters, or just overall daily stressors we all come in contact with.Save

The most exciting part is that it can be done in just 10-minutes or less every morning, in any location.

AND, if you forget these 10-minutes, the great news is you can excuse yourself, sneak to your car or do the 2-mintute version in an emergency and you’ll be back to a better place in no time.

Energetically cleanse and protect the inner you and outer you!

The basic gist is you want to cleanse and clear your energy at the very least once a day, in the morning. This takes care of the outer you. Mid-day and before bedtime is also helpful.

Then visualize cleansing and clearing from the top down, on the inside.

There are so many ways to do this and so many techniques you can use, but here is a great starting point that I’ve been using for years and LOVE.

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THE OUTER YOU/SETTING UP YOUR PROTECTION BOUNDARIES:

Imagine drops of light falling all around you. Washing away any energetic debris. See it wash out of your room, down the street, where it is transmuted to beautiful golden light.

Once your energy feels clear, then imagine a beautiful bubble of light surrounding you. Start small and see it grow bigger, and bigger.

If it’s hard for you to visualize it, you can feel it or ask the Angels or your Higher Self to help you. You can say out loud or in your head, “Angels (or Higher Self), I call upon you now to surround me in a beautiful bubble of light. None but the highest vibrations may enter my field”.

Quick and easy and now you’re all set up to keep energy out of your field that doesn’t belong to YOU!

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THE INNER YOU/CLEARING THE INTERNAL CLUTTER

With your outer energy cleared and your protective energy “bubble” engaged, it’s a great time to go a step further and clear your energy internally.

Imagine a beam of white light, coming down from your soul star, just for you. Let it enter your crown chakra at the top of your head. Pulling it down behind your eyes, scrubbing your pineal gland, down through your throat chakra, heart, digestive systems, root chakra, legs and into the earth.

From there, see that column of white light pushing through the earth until you reach a pool of light (the color of your choice) and you pull that grounding energy back up. Through the same column, pull the grounding energy of light back up into your feet, up your legs, thighs, root chakra, and up all the way through your internal energy systems until it comes out your crown and up toward your soul star.

White light coming down from above, grounding light coming up from the earth and let it swish and swirl inside clearing out anything that no longer serves you and moving your chakras (energy systems) and getting them unstuck.

Taking a few minutes to visualize (or feel it if visualization isn’t your strong Clair) will put you in such a great light and heart space for the day – it’s worth finding a way to squeeze this in.

The concept is visualizing connecting to divine white light and having it flow through your body from the top down to cleanse anything negative or blocked. The energy from the earth is to keep you grounded.

When you are done, it leaves you feeling connected to that light and feeling calm. it’s a great way to begin your day, maintain, or end your day!

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There are many ways to meditate and shield your energy, but what I like about these two is that they can be done relatively quickly and anywhere you can find a quiet spot once you have them more or less memorized (it doesn’t have to be perfect!).

It doesn’t mean that there won’t be upset co-workers or angry emails, or a hater in the comments on your blog post, but it does help with how you react to those things. Whether it sticks with you and bothers you for hours or if you can clear it out of your field and go about your day.

Basically, with these two techniques you can manage your energy like a boss, anywhere!

Commit to this process for 30 days and then skip a day to feel the difference. I’m convinced you will feel the difference in your stress level and ability to get caught up in the negative on the day you skip it! Which is such a great reminder that the process works and is worth devoting a small amount of time to.

If you would also like to end your day on a high note, repeat this process before bedtime so that you can sleep well. Even teach it to your kids so that they also sleep with happy dreams and don’t interrupt your sleep with their nightmares.

What if you still have a day that feels a little “energetically icky?”

If you do have a day that still feels a little energetically icky despite using this process, a salt bath can really help. My favorite salt is this one and I add a calming essential oil such as balance, serenity or lavender to relax and feel the negative attachments literally melt off me. I then visualize the negative energy going down the drain and thank mother earth for accepting it so that it leaves the house entirely.Save

PIN IT FOR LATER:

Why Stay-At-home Parents Make Less When They Return to the Workforce (and how to avoid it!)

Should Stay-at-home Parents make less when they return to the workforce? The short answer is “No,” but frequently they do. Not because they are worth less, or their skills have diminished, but because many Stay-at-Home Parents return to the workforce almost apologizing for being absent. They apply to lower positions than they held previously and they are unsure of how to market their skills with the absence.

You don’t have to apologize or apply to lesser positions!

You don’t have to make less because you took 1-10 years off!

But there are some things you can do to help reboot your career, and they probably aren’t what you are thinking:

1) Sit down and list all the skills you’ve learned as a parent.

I mean, this parenting thing is HARD. Talk about becoming an expert multi-tasker! Have you mastered your household budget? Have you read every book on parenting known to man? Maybe you’ve become an expert at meditating just to remain in a good head space so you don’t lose your mind? Maybe you are well-versed in how to handle any ailment with essential oils or homeopathic remedies.

List it. Write it down.

You don’t have to show anyone your list, but this will help bring the fact that you’ve been really doing something worthwhile to the forefront. You’ve been nurturing a valuable asset to the world and you should have pride in having done that. Keep that list near you when you are applying for jobs or being interviewed over the phone. It will help you keep your confidence high.

2) Decide how you will market your absence.

How will you explain the gap on your resume? Don’t just leave it blank. Address it in the cover letter. Put a job on your resume for “CEO of the household,” or “Sanity Provider.” “Chef at Mi Casa.” Have a little fun with it. You could even put Stay-At-Home-Parent and list all the volunteer activities you’ve been involved in over the years. Putting together a PTA fundraiser is no easy feat and if you’ve been a part of it you are probably excellent at organizing people and marketing the school to businesses (events and marketing!).

At the very least, address it in your cover letter (MAKE SURE TO HAVE A COVER LETTER) and explain why you were home and why you are now returning. There’s nothing more confusing to a recruiter than trying to figure out gaps on a person’s resume.

3) Take a refresher class.

If you are feeling your skills are outdated, enroll in some sort of refresher class at your local university or community college. It will help you feel confident and is a good chance to start networking to get your foot back in the door. If you can’t physically attend a class, start networking and brushing up on the latest news online to bring yourself up to speed.

4) Go inward.

The most important piece to determining your salary when you go back to work is YOU. You need to feel confident. Know the market and what it pays. Know your skills and why you should make the high end of any salary band. Then go for the high end every time. You’ve heard the expression “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Well, shoot for the moon.

The most common thing I’ve seen when people return to the workforce is this sense of feeling lost. As if they are coming out of a tunnel and don’t know where to go.

You want to be confident!

If you aren’t confident, your future employer won’t feel confident in you either.

I’ve seen the successes. I’ve personally known people who returned to work after 8 years off, completely confident and stepped right back into their former salary or higher. I’ve even seen them able to negotiate flexible schedules.

What you make when you return to work is largely in your hands!

And what you did while you were off did nothing to diminish your skills, it enhanced them instead. Right?

Let me know in the comments how you’ve handled or are handling returning to work after time off.

XOXO,

What to Do When You Hate Your Job (that most people won’t tell you)

What should you do when you find yourself in the position where you hate going to work every day and it’s draining your energy? Leave!

Well, that’s the more obvious answer, but truly if you are unhappy at your job and things aren’t looking up, it’s time to consider your options. While you are considering your options, the best thing you can do is give 100%. Why would you do your job better when you are discouraged, mistreated, unappreciated or just over it? Because you need to shift your energy.

First of all it’s easier to get another job when you have one. It helps with the pressure. You want to be able to play a little hard to get when you negotiate your salary, and if you are desperate, it’s much harder to do (see: Salary Negotiation Tips to Know Your Worth and Align Your Energy To It).

Most importantly though, it’s hard to get your next job if you have an energy of defeat or seem down. If you speak poorly about your current position or your current boss, it comes across as negative. The person interviewing you doesn’t know if you are a constant complainer, have a problem with authority or are in the wrong position for your skill set. Think about it. In an interview that person has 60 minutes or less to decide if they think you are someone that will fit in their company for the next 5-10 years. They are hoping you will be there for the long haul and are someone who can evolve with change. They don’t have time to sort out if you are truly at a bad company or if you bring drama, they just want to figure out your skill set and whether or not you will thrive in their position. Which means you need your energy positive and high. (Not to be confused with fake and perky.)

AUTHENTICALLY YOU!

No one feels good about themselves when they are doing a crappy job or getting negative feedback. The best thing you can do for yourself and others is commit to being present and do your best when you are on the job. But also set some boundaries. Try not to take things personally or take on the problems of others. Will you be able to get your next job if you are working 60 hours a week and have no time to look? No! Decide what you can commit to. What hours you truly need to be there to get your job done and have laser-like focus to do it.

If you trust your boss or your Human Resources department you can even tell them where you are having issues and see if they can make some changes. Maybe they didn’t realize the problems and can shift some things around. Trying hard and having a good attitude will get you far. It will help you have references, someone may give you a lead on your next job, or the workplace may rise to meet your new vibe.

The worst thing I’ve seen time and time again that drives me crazy is the person giving 40% who doesn’t quit, doesn’t thrive, just comes in unhappy every single day. That brings everyone down. No one is happy in that situation. Believe me, your boss isn’t going home thinking how great it is to have someone moping and texting all day when they should be working. Odds are that boss isn’t comfortable having a heart-to-heart conversation about the work and figures some work getting done is better than none. Which it isn’t. The unengaged person is generally doing much worse than you know until they are gone and you find out you don’t even miss them. We’ve all seen it. One person can be in a meeting and drag everyone down and drive everyone crazy time and time again. Don’t be that person!

Now if you are already giving 100% and trying to be a positive person, keep doing your best, but start putting in effort as to how you can keep your vibe up.

Work on energy-shielding techniques, get out into nature, start listing your skills and write up your vision for your next position so you can start calling that into your field. Ask the universe to support you and help you find the job that meets your needs. Make sure to define what you are looking for so the universe knows!

What has even worked for me in the past is to look online for new jobs. That simple step toward action can shift you into a better place. It’s like daydreaming with intent! Keep in mind – the high vibe person attracts the high-vibe job. Win win. Save Save Save

Believe me, I know it’s not easy but if you can step back and see the big picture, your effort will turn into something much better.

To be crystal clear, I don’t mean kill yourself trying to work overtime to impress a boss that will only criticize everything you do. Instead, set boundaries, show up, be present, contribute when you can, shield your energy, surround yourself with any positive people you can connect to – and change your work life for the better. Take any positive steps such us updating your resume (see: Is Your Resume Great or Sad By Comparison?), networking, listing what makes your dream job your dream job and practicing potential interview questions. Leave with good references. You will be happy later that you did.

Networking is so important these days and it’s much better if you don’t burn any bridges. You may even find you weren’t aligned with the right role anymore and just needed a change. Find ways to light up your work life, and if it’s not your current position, time to call in the one more suited for you. Let me know in the comments if you are raising your vibe to call in a new job. I’d love to hear about it!

XOXO,

nicole strychaz Save Save Save Save Save

The Risk of Leaving Annual Increases on Autopilot

Many employers have slowly evolved to a system where loyalty not only goes unrewarded, it goes against the principles of self-care and self-love.

What does self-care and self-love have to do with running a business and retaining employees?

EVERYTHING.

Look at what’s happened across the U.S.

Employers have consistently been giving 3% merit increases for the past six years and it’s expected to continue.1

The cost of living is steadily increasing at 2.1% (or more depending on how you value food, housing and energy costs).2

What that means is that employees are effectively making the same or less because their raises may not be covering the total cost of inflation, or if it does, it’s marginal.

So what are employees doing to make more money?

LEAVING!

According to Forbes “Employees Who Stay In Companies Longer Than Two Years, Get Paid 50% Less. 3 Fifty Percent Less!!!!!!

Let that sink in. What is the incentive to stay in a job longer than two years if you can make 50% more by leaving every few years?

And what does it say about how you value yourself, and put your needs first if you stay with the same employer which causes you to effectively make less?

The tricky part about this whole dynamic is that the employers are willing to pay the new person coming on board the market rate or higher, more than the loyal, hard-working talent already well trained and in place. So backwards!

As an employer, you should ask “What is the incentive at your company not to job hop?” “What does your Company do to retain people?”

As an employee, you should consistently do your homework to know the market rate for your skill set and be weighing the pros and cons. It may be worth it to make a little less but not have a commute. Or you may be able to give up your commute and make more working from home. You should be your own advocate.

The employer who really understands who their top talent is and rewards them accordingly, will be ahead of the game.

The best thing about top talent, is that effectively you will need less people, less Six Sigma and Lean initiatives because you hire strategic and efficient thinkers and they excel in their area of expertise.

You could take the money you spend on all the initiatives and training to be more effective, and instead reward and promote the up-and-coming talent already in place! That’s much less work than hiring, training, and adopting new systems, right?

To use this method you have to make sure you are empowering your top talent to make decisions. Your most effective employee cannot be under an ineffective manager or the net result is ZERO.

I know so many people who are hard workers, extremely bright, love their co-workers and what they do but move on because of bad management and a low reward system.

But the biggest problem is simply that this structure does not attempt to reward or retain your high achievers. And those high achievers will always be in demand because top talent rises to the top.

Many employers overlook the high cost of turnover when determining how to reward and retain employees.

Mindfully reviewing your reward practices takes this into account.

Let’s look at some numbers:

“For workers earning less than $50,000 annually—which covers three-quarters of all workers in the United States—… 22 case studies show a typical cost of turnover of 20 percent of salary, the same as across positions earning $75,000 a year or less, which includes 9 in 10 U.S. workers.”4

That starts to add up!

“Very highly paid jobs and those at the senior or executive levels tend to have disproportionately high turnover costs as a percentage of salary (up to 213 percent)…”4

Let’s say the research feels high at 213% and significantly reduce it to 60%, that is still $90,000!

When you look at turnover costs, you should remember to include the hourly cost of every manager who interviews candidates, the training cost of every employee who trains the new hire, the cost of the time that the position was vacant and anything that fell through the cracks, customers lost, the co-worker’s time who covers the vacant role, plus a recruiting fee if applicable (see this sheet on how to calculate).

So what can you do?

Mindfully reviewing your business on a regular basis is the only way to remain in the game and keep employees engaged. Look at the “Good to Great” companies. Is it sustainable if you come up with the best way but then leave it be year over year? No. It isn’t!

Everything evolves.

Now there are other reasons employees leave outside of salary alone. They are probably giving more reasons in their exit interviews (which hopefully you are conducting!), but reviewing your salary practices and doing some market research to make sure you remain competitive will really help you retain your best employees in the long run.

Important to note that sometimes “best employees” can mean “best for the job.” There are some jobs that so many people don’t want to do because they are dull and process-oriented. If you have a person that excels in that type of role, has almost eliminated errors, they are to be commended just as much as your top sales person.

Listen to your Human Resources professionals!

What’s great about a career in Human Resources is that we tend to know the pulse of the Company and who is going to leave before they actually quit.

What’s hard about a career in Human Resources is getting managers to listen and be proactive, and to really understand the impact of that one person leaving.

IN MANY CASES YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE TRYING TO STAY AND HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU!

There are so many ways to look at a reward system beyond just salary. Some employees would love more vacation, a flexible work schedule, the opportunity to work from home occasionally, and other creative solutions.

Having been in the Corporate world for over 10 years, and listening to family and friends every day after, I can tell you, at least 90% of the time it’s no surprise your good employees walk out the door.

Being mindful, can help that!

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