How would you feel if you started at a new organization and it took months to meet your manager? Would you feel valued? Would you know what to work on? Would you stay? As shocking as it may seem, many employees go weeks and months without contact from their managers, leaving them with a disillusioned picture of how to develop themselves, move forward, and add value to their organization.

As a manager, your day is often filled with meetings and other obligations, making it seem impossible to carve out time to meet with your people. As a result, you might be thinking to yourself: “I can’t afford to take time away from my other responsibilities to have touch point meetings.” But the reality is, you can’t afford not to.

Here are three reasons you should make every attempt to have biweekly or monthly touch point meetings with your people: 

1. Productivity

There are two types of employees: The ones who seek out answers and guidance in response to challenges and the ones who sit back and keep things to themselves when faced with adversity. Personality experts call these extroverts and introverts. While extroverts may be able to maintain their productivity by actively seeking out your leadership, introverts may face a lack of productivity if they don’t have regular opportunities to communicate their challenges and thoughts to you as a leader. By having regular touch point meetings, you can ensure that all your employees maintain a high level of productivity by keeping them on track. 

2. Engagement

Gallup suggests that the most engaged employees are those who have a manager who cares about them as an individual, both professionally and personally. Additionally, highly engaged cultures statistically produce higher levels of customer satisfaction and increased revenues. By dedicating a portion of your touch point meeting to asking your employees how they are doing, you communicate the fact that you are invested in their well-being, which in turn increases their loyalty and commitment to you as a leader. Keep your employees engaged by having touch point meetings and dedicating a portion of the time to sharing personal and professional thoughts. 

3. Retention

Would you stay at an organization if you never, ever had contact with your manager? When employees experience prolonged periods of absence from their managers, a belief starts to set in that leadership just “doesn’t care.” Employees begin to display a lack of passion and commitment to the organization, and begin to rationalize the thought that if they walked out the door suddenly, no one would notice. Having regular touch point meetings can have an immense amount of benefits when it comes to retention. Not only do you keep your employees engaged and show that you care, you also give yourself the opportunity to identify the potential warning signs of when an employee may be preparing to leave the organization.

Are you considering the possible benefits of touch point meetings? Do you keep in touch with your employees on a regular basis? Whether you are in the same building or across the world, there are many technological resources that make communicating with your people easier than ever. Take the time to meet with your employees, and you’ll enjoy the benefits of happy people, high results, and increased retention rates.