Startup Advice: How to Keep Your Employees Happy
Keeping employees can be difficult for any startup, but that’s especially true in China, where young people often expect to work jobs for a short time before moving on to the next one. So how can a startup — especially a Chinese startup — keep its employees happy enough that they stick around? Sun Qingxin, the founder of travel website Daoyou Tianxi, recently wrote a blog post sharing his advice on how to keep startup employees.
The full post is worth reading if you can read Chinese, but for those who can’t, here’s a summary of his eight main points:
従業員を会社に留めておくことはどんなベンチャーにとっても難しいだろうが、中国ではとくにそうだ。というのも中国の若い人たちは今の仕事を次の仕事に就くまで短期間やるにすぎないものと考えているからだ。そうすると、どうすればベンチャーは（とくに中国のベンチャーは）従業員にハッピーでいてもらって彼らを会社に留めておくことができるのだろうか。旅行サイトのDaoyou Tianxiの設立者であるSun Qingxinは最近、ブログに記事を投稿し、そのなかでどうすれば従業員にベンチャーに留まってもらえるかにつき、アドバイスをこころみた。
中国語が読めるのなら投稿全体を読んでみるとためになるだろうが、そうではない人のために8つの要点を紹介しよう。
起業間もない頃というのは従業員を会社に引き止めておく事自体が難しいものだが、若者の企業における在職期間が短く、すぐに次の職場に移ってしまう中国においては、特にその傾向が強い。創業期、とりわけ中国で起業する際に、従業員を満足させ、自社にとどまらせるにはどうしたら良いのだろう？
旅行サイト 「导游天下」（Daoyou Tianxi）の創始者である孫 慶新氏が、従業員を引き止めておくコツをブログで紹介している。
もしあなたが中国語を読めるなら、記事全てを読む事をお勧めする。中国語を読めない人のために、ここで8つのポイントをご紹介しておこう。
1. Values are important. If you use money to entice and hire people, those people are likely to leave again as soon as a better offer comes along. And you’re a startup, so you probably don’t have enough money to entice people anyway. But if you can convince people that what you’re doing is meaningful and that there is value in it in the long-term, the money becomes less important and you’re less likely to lose people to better financial offers.
2. Be clear with everyone from the start: doing a startup isn’t a short-term prospect. Doing a startup means lots of hard work for little pay over a long period of time and then, probably, you still fail. Be sure that your employees understand what they’re getting into up front, because if they don’t, they’re going to bolt for the doors as soon as they figure it out, and then you’ve wasted a lot of time and effort on hiring and training someone you now need to replace.
3. Make people feel like they’re personally progressing and growing. You probably can’t offer vast sums of money, but if employees feel like they’re learning and bettering themselves, they’re more likely to stick around for the long haul because there’s value in it for them (even if the value isn’t financial). If they’re not learning anything, why should they stay?
4. Let people see the advancements and plans for the project as it progresses. Similar to the previous point, people want to know where the company is planning to go, and how close it is to getting there. Share important milestones with everyone and communicate about the company so that employees understand where they stand and where they should be striving to get to.
5. Make people treasure the team. Foster a “family” atmosphere among the team. If people feel like a family that’s going on a journey together, they’re less likely to want to leave.
⑤従業員がチームを大事にするよう仕向けないといけない。家族のような雰囲気を醸成するのだ。従業員があたかも家族で旅に出るような気持ちになっているなら、そこから離れようという気をおこす可能性は少ない。
6. Make sure everyone knows their value and importance. People want to feel like they’re doing something important. This is especially true in a small team that’s not getting paid a whole lot; most people need to feel like they’re making a difference. Be sure you’re giving them feedback that lets them know why they’re important to the team, or expect to have to replace them sooner or later.
7. Use the core team to set an example everyone can follow. If your employees see that you’re working tirelessly and that you really believe in the project, they’re going to follow. Conversely, if they see you’re phoning it in, don’t expect them to do any better just because you’re paying them.
⑦中心的メンバーが全員に範を示すといい。もし疲れ知らずに働き将来を信じるあなたの姿を従業員が見れば、彼らはあなたに従うでしょう。逆に、もし従業員があなたことを胡散臭いと見ているのなら、給料を払っているというだけの理由で今以上の働きを彼らに期待することはできない。
７．全員が従うことのできる模範を示すためコアチームと使え。従業員は経営者が疲れを知らぬエネルギーを持って精力的に仕事をこなし、経営者が自分のプロジェクトを信じている時、ついていくものである。逆に経営者が欠勤しているのを従業員が見ているようであれば、給料を支払っているからというだけの理由で従業員がよりよい仕事をするなどと期待してはならない。
8. Ask unsuitable people to leave quickly. Hiring the wrong people from time to time is going to happen, but don’t make things worse by keeping them on after you’ve realized it’s not gonna work out. Getting people who aren’t the right fit out of the way quickly is better for you and the employee you’re letting go in the long run, so don’t delay.
