June 26th 2023
Employee retention is crucial to any successful organisation. We all know bringing in new people is costly and time consuming. High staff turnover ruins workplace cultures too.
Despite this, in recent XpertHR research, 83% of chief HR officers said they faced significant talent retention problems.
While there’s no one way to ‘fix’ an employee retention issue, there are a list of common reasons why people leave jobs:
- Bad management
- Lack of opportunities to use skills/abilities
- Toxic workplace environment or culture
- Promotions – the offer of a promotion elsewhere, or somebody being promoted ahead of the person
- Given too much or too little work
Better retention rates means happier staff, higher morale, and increased productivity. That’s why it’s valuable to understand why people are leaving so you can create a better workplace for everyone.
Once you have this insight, you can introduce relevant initiatives to help keep your best people in your company for longer.
Provide development opportunities
Having goals is motivational for most people. Providing development opportunities is therefore a great way to keep your people driven and make them feel valued. In fact, recent research showed that companies that provide development opportunities have a lower average turnover rate (13%) than those that don’t (19%).
If you don’t already, implement personal development plans with each member of your team to understand where they want to progress to, and outline how the company will help them get there.
And when it comes to promotions, look internally first to show your company values loyal staff and career progression.
Create trust and promote autonomy
Instead of task setting, empower your people to think on their feet, take ownership of their own workload and problem solve. This approach gives people more autonomy and shows you trust them to succeed without micro management. Effective delegation also creates a sense of purpose, which in turn, increases overall job satisfaction.
Offer benefits and salary reviews
Benefits packages need to be relevant to the people using them. Remember, it’s not a one size fits all approach. If you’re working with a recruiter, ask them about the types of benefits people are looking for so you can be competitive with your offering.
It could be that your team want the option to work from home when not on site, access to private healthcare or less travel time when possible. It’s a good idea to speak with your team directly to understand which company benefits they actively use and any new ones they’d like to see.
With salaries, you need to ensure that you’re staying competitive. Do your research, or chat to a recruiter, to find out what you should be paying your team.
Be mindful of work-life balance
This is where the point about having too much or too little work comes in. Too much and you risk burnout, too little and the job becomes demotivating. A couple of things you might do to help your employees maintain a healthy work life balance might be:
- Make sure people are taking enough holiday
- Set clear boundaries that respect your team’s time when they’re not at work
- Don’t call them outside of work hours or when they’re on leave.When people feel that their personal lives are respected and supported, they’re more likely to stay with your company.
Improve employee engagement
If your team are in the know and fully understand your business goals, vision and values it’ll be easier for them to back your company and actively support growth. Your people need to understand how they fit into the bigger picture.
And don’t just talk about it… Practice what you preach by making an effort to engage employees in the culture of the company with initiatives like away days and regular social events.
Need help with staff retention?
Get in touch, we’d be happy to discuss your current situation and what could be done to retain your team.