Is your organization facing an employee turnover problem? Do you have an effective employee retention strategy in place to lower the churn rate? Believe it or not, approximately 50% of the global employers do not follow a formal employee retention strategy.
It’s true that one of the biggest challenges which the businesses are facing nowadays is how to retain top talent. Like customers, employees are also an asset to an organization. When a company takes good care of the employees, they pass on this feeling to the customers, which eventually boosts the image and helps it stand out in the crowd.
Hiring and retaining talent are both important for building a robust workforce. But, it raises an important question – why do employees prefer to switch jobs? Although the chance to advance careers and high pay packages are important but those aren’t the sole reasons which motivate them to jump ship. It has been observed that the new age employees want a more transient work life. Many feel that they aren’t getting what they are looking for, which pushes them to look for new opportunities.
While many business owners are of the belief that retention is based on compensation – wage, salary, incentives offered – but in reality the drivers delve deep into the human psyche to the attitudes and actions that make the employees feel wanted, secure and appreciated. Since employee turnover is both frustrating and costly, therefore it is best to avoid it by implementing a sound retention strategy that focuses on communication, performance, competitive advantage and loyalty.
Bolstering employee retention rates isn’t rocket science. Every business should aim to create a environment where the employees look forward, and feel the urge to go to work every day.
Below are the top 10 actionable strategies that will surely help you retain the talent you need to make your business successful.
- Start early
‘The sooner, the better’ approach actually works here. If you make efforts to focus on employee retention, you are set for success. During the recruiting process, identify prospects who are most likely to fit in your company’s culture and team. Have a realistic plan to keep the employees satisfied and happy.
- Aim to build ‘positive’ company culture
Every employer should focus on developing a positive company culture that comprises beliefs, values, attitudes, employee traits and much more. This isn’t a one-day task and develops over time. If you haven’t paid attention to this aspect until now, it’s time to rethink your strategy because positive company culture directly impacts the employees.
- Offer competitive benefits and small perks
It’s true that if you want to retain talent, provide them lucrative benefits such as life insurance, health insurance, retirement savings plan etc. Also, additional perks like ‘flexi-time’, the flexibility of remote working, option of telecommuting will make your employees feel valued and help them achieve work/life balance.
With the advancement of technology, physical presence isn’t mandatory anymore to get a job done. So, offer employees the option to work when and where.
- Engage with employees
Regardless of the size of a company, the onus lies on the employee to know his/her team on an individual basis. So, spend time to interact with them and address their concerns.
“All work and no play” will hamper the productivity of your employees. Let them pursue their hobbies, engage them in music and yoga sessions. Also, initiate a regular feedback cycle to make important changes.
- Offer incentives and applaud excellence
It is a good idea to use contests and attractive incentives to reward your workers. When you appreciate and recognize their efforts, it will make your staff feel respected and special at the same time.
- Provide opportunities for professional development
It has been observed that many businesses do not offer training and options for continuing education to their employees. Workers become disillusioned in their job in the absence of growth prospects. After all, no one likes a dead-end job. When there is a well-defined career advancement plan in place, your workforce will automatically feel like they are an integral part of the company’s success.
Industry veterans are of the opinion that organizations should consider training the new age corporate workers using online learning tools to create a powerful incentive for the employees.
Online training offered via a learning management system (LMS) should be preferred compared to its traditional counterpart because it is a great enabler of learning by facilitating continual learning and yields wider access. Apart from being a cost-effective option for the corporates, e-learning offers an appropriate ‘infrastructure’ using which the businesses can create interactive and engagement-driven platforms for their staff and at the same time provide efficient skill-development and performance-boosting training. After all, no two employees are same and learn at the same place.
It is best to offer mentorship and cross-training programs. In fact, a leadership ladder that helps the workers earn the skills they require to move up should be the focus. It’s true that employees look for opportunities to advance and not just maintain momentum.
- Implement ‘open door’ policy
With the ‘open-door’ policy in place, it will allow your employees to share their viewpoint/opinion without fear of repercussion. Open communication between management and workers will boost relations.
- Define expectations
When employees understand and are aware of what is expected of them, they will stay goal focussed. If they don’t know what their job demands, their performance and morale are likely to dip. Also, an employer should clearly explain to the workers how to prioritize their responsibilities.
- Implement ‘stay’ interviews
Besides the exit interviews, initiate ‘stay’ interviews. It is an excellent way to find out what makes your current workers stay, and for what reasons they are not willing to continue. Stay interviews should be conducted periodically. Based on the questions you ask, the answers can be used to boost your employee retention strategies.
It’s a fact that an enterprise that engages its employees with suitable policies result in strengthened employee retention.
- Build a ‘safe’ and ‘clean’ working environment
Usually, employees spend one-third of their day at the workplace, it is the responsibility of the employer to offer comfortable working space to them. Regular risk assessments are necessary as it will help to identify the potential dangers and hazards.
With the ‘right’ employee retention strategies in place, a business can produce amazing results. What are your employee retention strategies that worked for your business?
