Employee Retention: Why You Should Care and How to Improve It

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Employee retention is more important than you might think. The inability to retain employees can spell disaster for your business. What’s more, the chances of your top talent choosing to leave or being pooched right out of your business are higher than ever before.

According to Talent Keepers (https://www.talentkeepers.com), a human resources company that specializes in employee retention, engagement, and recruitment, “Gone are the days of employees toughing it out through long work hours or toxic work cultures. In an increasingly remote employment landscape, people have the option to go elsewhere.”

How Does Employee Retention Affect the Market as a Whole?

Employee retention is a business or organization’s ability to limit turnover.

Businesses have failed to pay attention to the importance of employee retention and it’s beginning to have adverse effects on the market. News organizations referred to the events of this past year as the Great Resignation, as employees left their jobs at rapid rates for work that made them happier. In fact, the current turnover rate is a whopping 52.7% of employees.

Many businesses were startled to learn their employees weren’t as happy as they seemed. The Great Resignation caught managers and business owners by surprise. They were left scrambling to find people to replace their team members.

The questions they now have to face are: Why did their employees choose to leave? Also, how can they prevent that from continuing to happen? With that in mind, here are some ideas on how you can improve your company’s employee retention rate.

Create a Supportive Work Environment to Boost Employee Retention

One of the major reasons employees resign is that they don’t enjoy their work environment. Often this is because workplaces become stressful. They become places that employees don’t look forward to going to each day. In fact, workers watch the clock and are excited to leave when quitting time rolls around.

Basically, when a job becomes just about receiving a paycheck and not about completing good work in a timely manner, it’s hard for employees to feel motivated.

But the best way to regroup from a toxic work environment is to work with your HR department. They usually have the most insight into what your employees are feeling. Go through exit interviews and see what people’s reasons are for leaving. Emphasize team building, and think about hosting fun activities for your employees throughout the month during work hours. Give them chances to blow off steam and let go of some stress.

Also, try to keep work within work hours. This can be a huge reason behind poor employee retention. Employees often leave their jobs because of expectations that they work when they should be spending time with family and friends. If on occasion you find you must ask employees to work after hours you should pay them for their time.

It is possible to get your work environment back on track to being the supportive environment your employees need by embracing these practices.

Emphasize Communication

Companies with high levels of employee retention emphasize communication. You want your employees to feel comfortable airing their grievances with their managers so you can figure out how to fix problems. Think about scheduling monthly check-ins with your employees and managers. During these meetings go over what they’re doing well and what they’re struggling with.

Sometimes employees are afraid to speak out against their superiors, even when you set aside time for them to do so. Think about incorporating an anonymous suggestion box, whether online or physically available. This can alleviate their worries and encourage more employees to be vocal about what’s bothering them at work.

Offer Benefits and Perks

Offering competitive benefits and perks is a surefire way to gain employee approval and encourage them to stick around. It can even help your hiring practices.

Look at what your competitors are doing and see how your current offerings compare. If you are offering employees less than your competitors are, your employees will likely leave. People want a work environment that encourages growth in all aspects of their life.

Stress Employee Retention as You Train Your Management Team

Managers need to be well-versed in team management skills. Many managers gain promotions to their positions without any prior experience managing a team. Even if they have managed teams elsewhere there’s a good chance their practices are different than the ones you follow at your office.

Managers interact with employees more often than do executives in higher positions. If a manager is lackluster their team members are going to equate the business with their manager’s overall work style. Think about having bi-annual manager training sessions. You can use them as check-ins, too. Then you can find out how the manager feels they are doing with their team.

Offer ways to improve their performance and team dynamics. Leading by example is incredibly important. Therefore, if you put extra work into making sure your managers are properly trained, you can be sure that will filter down to their team members.

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