The search for top talent is always a priority for managers trying to harness a capable and robust workforce. However, the effort to retain talent once hired is just as critical. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3 million Americans quit their job every month; other studies indicate that roughly 30% of all new hires quit before getting to the half-year mark.
This trend can be the leaking bucket in your company. It paralyzes your business’ core functions, and the process of hiring and training a replacement can be a costly one.
But how do you retain your mission-critical employees in such a highly competitive job market? In this article, we’ll explore seven employee retention strategies to help you maintain a talented workforce years on end and ultimately drive your business growth.
1. Get it Right from the Start
Some estimate that as much as 80% of employee turnover is due to poor hiring decisions. It’s vital to realize that retention starts from the beginning of the hiring process, from the application and screening to choosing the ideal candidates. Identify what skill sets, values, and experiences you want to emphasize in your company, and then look out for those in your candidates.
This approach allows you to hire people who fit your company’s expectations and whose expectations you can fulfill. A team that resonates with your company’s culture is more likely to stay and contribute, thus leading to increased productivity.
Working with a staffing and talent firm that can evaluate your company’s goals and staffing needs is also an excellent option to onboard the ideal candidates for your company.
2. Invest in Employees Professional Development
Helping your team achieve their long and short-term goals is one of the most crucial employee retention strategies. A significant percentage of employees report that their job satisfaction is tied to having a clear path for career growth.
Think of investing in your employees as a long game; it links their career development goals to your company, which prompts them to say. The longer they stay, the more productive they become, which ensures your return on investment.
Consider designing in-house training and mentorship programs to foster professional development. You may also want to adopt other methods such as paying for your employees to attend conferences and workshops, offering tuition reimbursements, and promoting from within whenever possible.
3. Provide and Receive Feedback
Your employees need feedback to do their best at work and focus on areas of improvement. Frequent positive feedback motivates your workforce and gives them the determination to be their best. Constructive criticism is equally essential to rectify an issue that may otherwise escalate into more significant problems for your business.
On the flip side, employees are also seeking an opportunity to give you feedback. Your team may disengage if they feel you’re not open to their thoughts or ideas. It’s essential to create a culture of communication where your staff feel comfortable and safe to share their feedback with you or the management.
Keeping lines of communication open is critical to employee retention. Two-way communication builds trust and encourages transparency.
4. Engage Your Employees
Modern-day employees care about fulfillment and making a difference as much as they care about paying the bills. New staff members want to contribute towards positive change in the company or the community and feel you hired them for a reason.
As such, it is important to give your members stimulating assignments and varied tasks, involve them in decision making, and make conscious efforts to cultivate inclusion in your company.
Philanthropic programs, social programs to facilitate bonding amongst coworkers, and unity around a shared vision for the company nurture inclusivity and give employees a sense of meaning and belonging.
5. Out of the Box Benefits
Offering your employees competitive wages and benefits is important, but it is not always about money. While your team members need the financial security of a good salary, health, and retirement benefits, these are the bare minimum when it comes to employee attraction and retention.
Look beyond these staples and evaluate what will truly serve the needs of your employees. For instance, flexible work schedules, stock options, and other financial incentives like gym memberships, fitness training, child care, and sabbaticals are popular benefits that employers use to enhance retention.
Another alternative is to solicit your teams’ feedback to understand the benefits that would ideally enhance their lives and wellbeing. You may also want to allow for tailored benefit options to account for employee demographics in your team. For example, boomers and millennials will be motivated by different benefit packages.
6. Encourage a Healthy Work-life Balance
All the benefits in the world cannot compensate for burnout and chronic overwhelm. Overworking your team will cause them to lose focus and possibly give up on your important projects. In contrast, when you don’t overwork your employees, they will have the energy to work more productively. Perform regular top-down evaluations on your workforce to ensure that no member of your team is getting overworked.
Encourage all levels of your company to prioritize healthy workloads that strike a balance between work and personal life. Ensure that managers are modeling a good example so that other employees feel comfortable to adopt a work-life balance.
7. Understand What Makes Your Employees Stay
More and more companies are adding stay interviews to their employee retention toolkit. These are typically discussions with employees to understand why an employee wants to work for your company and what it will take to keep them.
Gaining insight into why your team would want to stay is a significant metric to help you identify which policies best contribute to your employee retention strategy as well as highlight areas of improvement. Be open to the feedback you get and use it to streamline your internal policies.
Keeping Your Workforce
Are you looking to build a dynamic workforce that will stay its course and guarantee your ROI? Look no further. Dover Staffing, Inc is an award-winning staffing solutions company in Atlanta, GA. We have rendered superior talent and staffing services to build our name as a dependable staffing company over the years.
For more information on staffing and employee retention, feel free to contact us today, and we will be more than willing to assist.
Image credits: Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels