You let out a heavy sigh as you scan through the resignation letter on your desk. Employee turnover has always been somewhat of an issue at your organization. But lately, there’s been a mass exodus of talent. Unfortunately, this critical departure will leave you and the rest of your team scrambling to hit the targets on your scorecard.
You think there must be something you can do to stop the bleeding, and you’re right! We’ll share 17 ways you can boost your employee retention strategy. That way, you can spend more time crushing company goals than recruiting replacement workers.
Why Your Employee Retention Strategy Needs a Boost
Before we dive into the tactics you can use to keep staff happily employed by your firm, let’s review why implementing them will be worth your effort. Sure, turnover creates chaos in the office, disrupts workflows, and brings down morale.
But, did you know that it can cost your company up to 33% of your team member’s annual salary to replace them? That means the business may spend more than $80,000 to replace an executive earning $250,000 per year. This staggering figure accounts for lost productivity, overtime wages (to cover the departed employee’s shifts), and recruiting, onboarding, and training expenses.
The financial damage of employee turnover alone should prompt you to take action. But, the rewards of strong employee retention extend beyond the firm’s bottom line. Benefits also include happier team members, stability, and a sense of calm — all tough to put a price tag on.
17 Boosting Ideas to Try
Here are 17 of the best approaches to incorporate into your employee retention strategy:
1. Hire the Right Person
When you hire the right applicant for the job, your chance of retaining them for the long haul goes way up. That’s because they’ll be more likely to handle position responsibilities successfully and fit in well with the team.
But, when you bring in the wrong person for the role, the reverse will likely be true. They’ll probably struggle to complete their work or bond with their coworkers, ultimately leading to frustration, conflict, and turnover.
2. Onboard New Hires with Care
Selecting the best-suited professional for the position is only part of the battle. Now, you must onboard them effectively — or risk losing them early in their tenure with your company. A proper onboarding process includes:
- introducing the new hire to the team and other key players
- teaching them the company’s policies, procedures, history, mission, vision, and values
- supplying them with a workspace, equipment, and technology access
- helping them enroll in employee benefits
- establishing expectations for the first few weeks and months of employment
- being readily available to answer questions and provide support
Pro Tip: Consider pairing each new hire with a company veteran that can help them get acclimated.
3. Pay Competitive Wages
Your organization must pay competitive wages, or your workers will leave for a company that does. Conduct market research at least annually to ensure your salaries meet or exceed those of your competitors. If you find that your pay severely lags the market, plan to update your salary ranges for new hires and provide raises to your existing staff as soon as possible.
4. Offer a Robust Benefits Package
While your employees value money, many are even more concerned with their benefits package. So first, be sure you’re offering a solid suite of traditional benefits, like health insurance, paid time off, and a retirement savings plan match.
Then, supplement those with a wide range of perks that cater to various life and career phases. Popular examples include pet insurance, student loan repayment assistance, and legal or financial advice programs.
5. Respect Time Away from the Office
Let your employees forget about work when they are out of the office. That means don’t email, call, or text them between shifts or while they’re on vacation. Your respect for their personal time will be appreciated — likely in the form of better performance when they return or extended tenure.
6. Invest in Employee Development
Most of your team members don’t want to stagnate for the rest of their careers. They have professional dreams that they want to realize before they retire. You can help them achieve those goals by investing in their development. That investment might look like providing:
- in-house training
- tuition reimbursement or assistance
- conference attendance opportunities
- formal or informal mentoring
- job shadowing
Remember: While they may take their newfound skills and knowledge to another employer, your organization will benefit from their enhanced capabilities in the meantime.
7. Promote from Within
Now that you’ve spent a lot of time and money on employee development, you should strive to promote your all-stars whenever possible. Lay out clear career paths during annual reviews and performance check-ins. If your team members can see a future with your firm, they won’t have to look to hit their next professional milestone elsewhere.
8. Select Leaders Carefully
Bad managers drive out good employees faster than you can blink. That’s why it’s critical to select your leadership team carefully. Be sure each manager has the traits and skills required to achieve company objectives while taking care of their employees.
9. Maintain a Welcoming Company Culture
Every employee wants to feel welcome in their workplace, like they belong. So, your company should establish and maintain a culture that champions diversity, equity, and inclusion. The firm should also ensure that employee policies are fair and promote transparency through open and regular communication.
Pro Tip: Another way to make employees feel like they belong is to foster a strong bond between your team members. Consider organizing regular picnics, cookouts, potluck dinners, or coffee shop crawls so workers can hang out with each other.
10. Set Well-Defined, Straightforward Goals
Your workers must understand what’s expected of them to succeed in their roles. So, you need to set well-defined and straightforward goals for them to hit. If you don’t, they’ll fumble around in the dark, guess at what you want, and likely miss the mark. If that happens for too long, they’ll grow frustrated and quit. Or, they’ll get fired for poor performance.
11. Provide Continuous, Useful Feedback
It’s not enough to give your team members a target to aim at — you also need to guide them along the way. That means you can’t reserve your feedback for annual review time. Instead, you should give your employees a steady stream of your observations that they can use to course correct or enhance their performance.
12. Appreciate Achievement and Dedication
A little praise goes a long way to keeping your team intact. So, be sure to appreciate and celebrate each employee for their contributions. Contributions could range from consistently coming to work on time to hitting a significant milestone.
Pro Tip: Be sure to learn and respect how each worker likes to be recognized — publicly or privately.
13. Regard Employees as People
Your employees may get assigned numbers in your payroll system, but they’re much more than that. If you have empathy and treat them as people with meaningful lives outside of the office, you’ll be much more likely to keep them on your team.
So, ask them about their weekend, take an interest in what they do for fun, or lend an ear when they’re struggling. They’ll remember those gestures.
14. Trust Your Workers
You hired each employee because you know they can fulfill their responsibilities. So, take a step back, and let them do so. If you micromanage your team members, they’ll withdraw further and further from you — until they work for another company. But, if you show that you trust them, you’ll inspire them to work hard for your firm.
Pro Tip: Many professionals want a remote or hybrid position. So, accommodate them unless they absolutely must be in the office.
15. Demonstrate the Impact of the Work
Many professionals want to know that what they’re doing is making a difference. If they feel a sense of purpose, they’ll be more likely to keep working for your organization. So, show each employee how their efforts impact the team, company, and world.
16. Facilitate Opportunities to Give Back
Your workers will feel a stronger connection to your firm if it shows that it cares about more than its bottom line. So, consider giving your employees paid time off to volunteer. You can also help them give money to their favorite charities via payroll deductions.
Pro Tip: Volunteering as a group can be a great team-building activity.
17. Gauge Satisfaction and Ask for Suggestions
The best way to improve your employee retention program is to ask your workers for their perspectives. Have them rate their satisfaction with various aspects of their employment experience. Allow them to make suggestions to increase morale and engagement. And most importantly, use their feedback and implement their recommendations whenever possible. When employees feel listened to, they’ll be more likely to stay.
How Omnia Can Help
Knowing which candidate to hire can be challenging — especially when it’s a close call between two candidates. Don’t worry, though. Our cognitive and behavioral assessments can help you decide.
Our cognitive assessment gauges your candidate’s aptitude. It will reveal their ability to think, learn, comprehend, adapt, solve problems, and more. With these results in hand, you’ll know if they have the mental acuity to handle the open role.
Our behavioral assessment looks at your candidate’s personality. It will dive into their communication style and work preferences. After reading the report, you’ll know if they’re a good fit for the position — and your company. Our behavioral assessment insights can also help you train, lead, motivate, and reward workers once they’re on your team.
Candidates (or employees) can complete each test in a few minutes, and you’ll receive actionable results instantly. Plus, you can request a deeper analysis of the behavioral assessment findings.
See the behavioral assessment in action with this complimentary demo!
Final Thoughts
If you’re not actively trying to keep your team members, you will lose them. The market is highly competitive, and professionals won’t hesitate to jump ship for a better arrangement. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to boost your employee retention strategy. If you implement even a handful of the methods we’ve discussed here, you’ll be well on your way to outshining your competitors as an employer of choice.
Tell us: What are you doing to improve employee retention at your organization?
