With talent being the main driver of success for businesses, employee retention is one of the most important aspects of workforce management. It’s not just the fact that tenured employees drive great value; it’s also that high turnover and the exit of employees can be very costly. In fact, many studies estimate that the cost of losing an employee can range from tens of thousands of dollars all the way to 2 times the annual salary of that employee!
1. Track Retention:
This is the low-hanging fruit, but it is the foundation off which you can build out efficient retention strategies. The logic is simple: if you don’t currently measure turnover and retention rates, how can you possibly improve it? Any employee retention strategy needs to begin with a process for tracking employee performance.
2. Offer a Clear Progression Path:
As the economy becomes stronger, more job opportunities arise. When employees don’t see a clear, progressive path at your organization, they have less incentive to stay and more reason to begin searching for a role that will propel them forward in their career.
3. Focus on Work Environment:
There has been a trend towards open, collaborative work cultures, and for good reason. Increasingly, people are not solely focused on compensation. It’s still very important, but employees are also looking for other aspects in their work environments, such as flexible hours, support, collaboration, inclusivity diversity, and fun.
4. Hire for Fit:
A common mistake made in the hiring process is deciding based solely on either personality, or skill set. There needs to be a balance between the two. If somebody has a personality that fits the company culture, but is not equipped with the proper skills for the role, they will not succeed. Likewise, if somebody has the right skill set but simply isn’t the right fit within the organization, it can affect working relationships and hinder productivity.
5. Invest In an Employee Management System:
In many cases, an employee resignation comes as a total surprise. However, more often than not, this is due to improper workforce management processes. For example, unscheduled absences, early departures and frequent lateness on the part of an employee may indicate a lack of job satisfaction, yet many managers may be oblivious. If you have a workforce management solution in place that allows you to track such instances, you can identify that there is an issue and take corrective action.
If your organization is experiencing employee retention issues, following the above tips can help you improve the employee retention strategy you have in place, or even create a new plan altogether. Focusing on improving your employee retention will ultimately serve to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve your bottom line.
