During my internship here at Rapleaf, I’ve discovered that it is crucial to have very high standards when recruiting.  Not only are you finding the best, but this is also a great way to retain employees from the start.  Our CEO Auren has written about our desire to hire only great candidates, not just good ones.  And recently he’s been stressing the value of actually underselling an offer to insure incoming employees are completely committed to the culture and direction of a company.

A Wall Street Journal article found that companies large and small are increasingly looking at employee retention as a measure of success.  They’re being reactive, in a sense, by linking executive bonuses to employee retention.  I don’t think startups can afford to do this.  One of my takeaways is that it’s important that any company, regardless of size or industry, be proactive and set expectations from the beginning and maintain expectations (see Auren’s advice in the links above).  By ensuring that your employees are committed to the culture and direction of a company, you don’t have to worry about retention quarter after quarter.

Despite being in a ‘revolving door’ industry for talent, as the tech industry can be, I’ve seen that we’ve been pretty fortunate to retain the best people, and I can vouch that a lot of it has to do with setting expectations from the start.