If you work in a managerial role, it can be a nightmarish scenario: out of the blue, one of your best employees resigns, leaving the infrastructure of your company in tatters.
Not only are you forced to find a replacement — whose skills, respectfully, will likely not match up to those of your former employee — but you must also consider the impact the departure will have on morale and productivity among the remaining staff.
A talented employee walking out is an even bigger deal than just massively inconveniencing the company. Other employees might begin to wonder whether they have more promising prospects lying elsewhere in the industry, and a walkout by a promising and valued employee could be the spark for a mass exodus from your business.
Staff Retention is Paramount to Your Business
The significance of employee satisfaction cannot be underestimated.
A staggering 31% of employees quit their jobs before reaching the 6-month mark, with 25% not making it to the 1-year milestone. Staff turnover is hugely expensive, with some estimates placing the cost of replacing an employee at as much as double the salary of that individual.
Consider this: at any given time, 51% of employees are considering a new job. This is hardly surprising when you know that 72% of workers state their primary reason for leaving is to advance their careers. Notwithstanding, 69% of employees say they would stay with a company for at least 3 years if only they were to experience superlative onboarding. For this reason, implementing and maintaining effective retention strategies in order to reduce staff turnover is one of the most crucial roles of management.
So just how do you begin to go about decreasing the likelihood of a star employee walking out the door?
7 Staff Retention Strategies Your Company Needs
Successfully creating staff retention strategies entails sincerely thinking about and accounting for your employees’ needs. Every individual is different. No-one’s asking you to bend to every will and desire of every person in the company, but those in managerial positions must nevertheless try to be as accommodating as possible, within the confines of budget and resources.
People want to feel appreciated. They want to feel challenged, stimulated; they need to feel genuinely proud of the work they do for you. What’s more, it is never too early in an employee’s career for you to begin implementing these techniques. From day one, your new hire should feel welcomed, settled and prepared. The support and training you provide from the get-go set the tone for their tenure at the company.
With this in mind, let’s delve into the 7 most effective staff retention strategies that managers can implement at their companies. Embrace these procedures and watch employee satisfaction skyrocket!
1) Identify Key Problems
Your employees are not robots. When someone is struggling with job dissatisfaction or an uneven work-life balance, the job itself becomes the antagonist in their life. This never ends well.
One ‘simple’ answer is to offer more pay. After all, this will alleviate some of the stressors associated with a poor work-life balance — but what if this solution is just not financially viable for your company? And what if it is feasible for your competitors? How else can you assuage employee dissatisfaction?
Find out specifically what irks your employees most about their jobs. Whether through anonymous surveys or direct feedback, identify points of frustration, then seek to alleviate the frustration caused by them. Do all you can to avoid an atmosphere of negativity taking hold of your workplace, because its effects can be both damaging and far-reaching.
Remember, too, that good employees are easily taken for granted by uncaring management. Be mindful of those workers who keep quiet and work hard, because they might just be the most frustrated or exhausted of all. If they quit at any moment, you’ll be left totally in the dark as to why.
2) Monitor Your Managers
People leave managers, not companies.
When people cite the reasons they left a company, it’s often much likelier they will ascribe their dissatisfaction to an acrimonious relationship with their superior than to their customers or coworkers. Poor or negative management is conducive only to low morale and reduced productivity, so make sure to train managers not only in the integral technical aspects of their job but also in so-called soft skills, such as encouragement, motivation, and stress, conflict and crisis management.
3) Make Employee Engagement a Top Priority
It can be easy to blame your employees themselves for their dissatisfaction. After all, you are paying them (perhaps rather handsomely) to show up and do good work, which negates any disengagement they may be experiencing… right?
Wrong. Dissatisfaction means staff are not motivated. As their employer, it is down to you to really understand what it is that motivates your employees in order to help them become fully engaged with their work and actually feel good about coming to the office in the morning.
Employees who are truly invested in their work are generally also more sincerely invested in learning. To get the most out of your staff, you need to help them develop as individuals, not just get better at what their role already entails. If the training you do provide centers exclusively around increasing proficiency in an employee’s role, you’re seriously missing out on some satisfaction-boosting opportunities.
Consider cross-training programs that allow the acquisition of a broader skillset. Alternatively, mentorship programs are a superb way of passing down wisdom and experience in an organic and wholesome manner. The development of strong interpersonal relationships in the workplace supersedes a training program every day of the week.
It’s also totally worth bearing in mind that the employees most dedicated to the company — and therefore of the greatest value to you — are those who most wish to advance up the ladder, not merely maintain momentum. Make this possible and satisfaction will soar. Whether it’s the prospect of a promotion or some form of professional development, employees who feel there is always a goal to be working toward are those who will feel most motivated in the long term. After all, who is going to work to the best of their abilities if there is no chance of advancement on the horizon?
Giving feedback, no matter how well-intentioned, is not enough. According to Entrepreneur, “People have a deep desire to feel they’re succeeding and that their talents and capabilities are being used in a way that makes a difference to the business.”
Show your employees how much you value them. The net benefit, over the course of your business’s lifetime, will be incalculable.
4) Hire the Right People
According to Glassdoor, 35% of hirers expect that new employees will have left within 12 months. To say this must be a disheartening process to sit through is an understatement.
37% of hiring managers assert that new hires would actually stick around longer if only the latter were better informed during the hiring process, because a poor onboarding experience creates a foundation of negativity before the job has even begun. Ensure that you are entirely honest with a candidate from the very beginning. Don’t conceal or sugarcoat aspects of the role. Transparency is paramount.
5) Be Led by Leaders — Not Bosses
People follow leaders. Conversely, people are also more than happy to abandon bosses who appear to only be in it for themselves.
A leader inspires their employees and lays out a clear path to the future for the company. A boss, on the other hand, secretes key information regarding what is in store for the business and leaves employees uncertain. Leaders can handle challenges with ease and without offloading stress onto their employees. A leader will fill their employees with confidence and a drive to succeed for the good of both the team and the company. Some bosses inspire only passive aggression as increasingly frustrated workers question their decisions.
A true leader, no matter how high up the ladder, pays genuine attention to the needs of their employees and sincerely listens to their concerns. They are relatable, human and establish rapport with consummate ease.
6) Be a Brand to Be Proud of
In this modern era of activism, every employee desires to be part of a solution — not a problem. It’s integral that your company becomes known for the positives, not the negatives.
Get involved with charities and helpful organizations. Build bridges with the local community. Show active interest in such current affairs as education, social justice and the environment. Encourage not only team-building but also an atmosphere of optimism, encouragement and hospitality.
The benefits of becoming such a business are twofold. You construct an authoritative reputation — and retain extremely satisfied employees. People are not automatons. Emotive action can speak to workers as much as their bank balance.
7) Imbue Your Workplace with Sincere Positivity
It’s not rocket science. If your employees are happy, their proficiency, productivity and attitudes will improve beyond measure.
Put in place systems, however minor they may seem, to ensure you keep up with your employees’ achievements, and be certain to check in with them regularly when they have excelled. It doesn’t even have to be a gift card or an extra day’s vacation. A sincere email expressing your gratitude or praising their work ethic can be all that’s needed to boost an employee’s morale for a long time to come and encourage them to stick around.
Lastly, make office life warm and fun. Celebrate major milestones for both individuals and the team as a whole. Whether the team has just completed that huge quarterly project way under budget or someone’s just got married or had a baby, seize the opportunity to celebrate with gusto. Regardless of whether you throw a party, organize a group excursion or book a meal out, your employees will appreciate the gesture and the dynamic of your workplace will be fortified for the future.
Build a Company in Which Everyone’s a Winner
Staff turnover can be a deeply troubling matter for management but, by implementing some or all of the abovementioned staff retention strategies in the day-to-day running of your company, there is no reason whatsoever to fear the worst. Respect your employees’ needs and your business will flourish.
At Links International, we understand how important it is to find the right person for the job in order to avoid the potentially astronomical costs of hiring, rehiring and hiring again, as worker after worker decides the job is just not right for them. Our award-winning recruitment services are designed to cover every aspect of your HR processes and have made us a leader in HR outsourcing in Asia. Get in touch with us today and one of our friendly team will be delighted to help you with any and all of your recruitment-related queries.
