Looking to increase productivity, boost bottom line, and improve the customer’s experience? Then working to improve your employee retention rate could be just the solution you’ve been searching for.
This important metric is easy to overlook, but it has a big impact on the organisation. Businesses with a poor employee retention rate typically have to spend much more on their hiring costs and struggle to develop the momentum they need to get ahead.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some tried and tested methods for nudging your employee retention rate in the right direction. And while that’s the main focus of these strategies, you should also find that employee engagement, productivity, and workplace morale are all improved, too.
Set Up for Success
An employee will be more likely to leave if they were never really set up for success in the first place. After all, it’s much easier for a worker to jump ship if they’re not invested! Setting up your new recruits for success involves more than just making sure that they know how to do their jobs. Ensuring that they’re fully invested in the company culture, have the opportunity to connect with colleagues, and feel supported from their very first day all count, too.
Invest in Leadership
An employee might love their job and even love the company, but if they have problems with their manager then they’ll soon be looking for the exit door. According to one survey, seven out of ten employees would consider leaving their job because of a bad manager. Plus, even if the employee didn’t quit, poor management would likely result in negative workplace morale, impacting productivity.
It’s best not to assume that a manager will automatically have a positive impact on your employees. Instead, invest in their training and coaching. As the article ‘How Great Managers Become Inspiring Leaders’ explains, management coaching not only boosts employee retention, but can also enhance productivity, engagement, and innovation. That’s a lot of good that can come from what is a relatively small investment.
Compensation and Perks
Employees want to do work that they enjoy and to feel that they’re supported by management. But those things won’t put food on the table. Even if your employees love working for your organisation, if they’re not paid well then it’s inevitable that they’ll leave sooner or later. Periodically reviewing your salary structure to ensure that it’s in line with industry standards can help prevent employees from having their heads turned by the promise of earning more dollars elsewhere.
And don’t forget that employees love any perks they can get their hands on, too! Providing healthcare, wellness stipends, and other benefits can make a huge difference to the employee’s experience. Even having a nice workplace can be considered a ‘perk’ — employees are much more likely to stay in a role if they’re working in a nice, bright workspace.
Work-Life Balance
Even people who love what they do don’t want to work all the time. And not only do they not want to — they shouldn’t! Working too many hours increases stress levels and can lead to burnout. When that happens, the employee will likely have to leave their posts for no other reason than they need to recharge their batteries.
Even if things aren’t that bad, employees still appreciate having a good work-life balance. Ensuring that your business prioritises work-life balance really can make your employees more likely to stay with your business. After all, this approach does more than just give staff more free time; it shows that the company genuinely cares about them.
Offer Training and Development Opportunities
The best employees are ambitious and want to feel like they’re making progress. If they can’t make that progress at your business, then they’ll look elsewhere. You can support your employees’ growth by providing training and development opportunities. For example, you could send them on courses, put together personal professional development packages, and offer them a pathway to move through the ranks.
Hold Exit Interviews
It doesn’t matter what you do; it’s inevitable that workers will leave your employment at some point or another. When they do, conducting exit interviews offers a great way to get insights about their time at your business and why they’re leaving. They’ll tell you why they’re leaving — it could be that it has nothing to do with your business whatsoever, but they might also reveal something that you can take on board, such as having problems with workloads, poor management, or no opportunities for advancement.
