3 tips to boost employee retention

Retaining talented workers is a critical task for businesses, not just the HR department. The cost of hiring new employees can be staggering when you consider lost productivity, time spent training, recruitment and related issues. Keeping an effective worker on board is often much more cost-efficient and significantly less disruptive than bringing in somebody new.

This logic is well established in today's business world, but companies still struggle with retention. A Harvard Business Review report explained that employees are voluntarily leaving jobs at a staggering rate that exceeds historical norms. In some cases, employees are going so far as to stop showing up to work. Sometimes, a new hire will simply drop off a business' radar when unhappy with the situation rather than dealing with the fallout of formally leaving the position.

Employee retention is difficult, and many businesses struggle to make headway in keeping employees engaged and on board. Here are three tips to help you gain an edge:

1) Work to understand why employees leave
It is difficult to assess why a worker chooses to leave a company. The HBR report mentioned earlier pointed out that workers will take heavily varied approaches to telling their employer why they are leaving. Furthermore, impulsive quitting is becoming more common and exit interviews aren't really effective. In many cases, employees hold back during exit interviews because they either want to leave a good impression or feel the company doesn't really want to change anyway. Either way, the lack of blunt, open feedback means an exit interview process doesn't do enough to help you understand why an employee left the business.

Instead of relying on the exit interview, the HBR article recommended companies instead investigate how the employee moved on. Did they follow standard procedure, but do nothing more or less? Did they avoid sharing information and seem hesitant to engage the process? Did they go so far as to engage in dysfunctional behavior or leave without notice? Were they friendly, appreciative and thankful? Finding an answer to these questions may require speaking with some of the employee's colleagues after the resignation, but the way a person left often tells you something. If they weren't communicative, it may be because they didn't trust the business. If they avoided communication or burned bridges, it may be because your business is leaving workers angry and burnt out.

2. Train your workers
Today's employees increasingly seek meaning and purpose in their day jobs. As such, they want to be challenged, grow and feel like the work they are doing is contributing to the business in meaningful ways. The result is a situation in which fewer workers want to stay in the same role for an extended period without opportunities to gain new skills and, eventually, promotion. However, businesses are often leaving employee training and skills development on the workers and not creating or fostering opportunities for growth. If you don't invest in your employees' futures, then how can you expect your workers to become loyal to your business and stick with you for the long haul?

Retaining workers is often complicated.

3. Create stability
A stable work environment can get underrated. According to a separate HBR report from the one mentioned earlier, many employees end up feeling uncertain and stressed when dealing with disruptive, frequently changing work environment. In many cases, chaos and uncertainty in the workplace can leave workers struggling to environ a personal future at the company and be hesitant to truly engage at the office. While a balance between stability and change is always important to maintain innovation, creating a stable foundation as a company can go a long way in engaging workers.

The article mentioned that this doesn't mean saying no to changes or giving up on progress in your business. Instead, it's a matter of looking at basic, everyday issues, like how employees receive feedback, what their roles are and how they are resourced, and ensuring those types of issues remain stable as the business goes through changes.

Of course, any employment-related task also comes with its fair share of legal hurdles. Having an attorney for business assistance can help you get perspective on the underlying implications of any retention strategies or changes you want to make to your resignation processes. The right legal help can make it easier to understand some of the more nuanced, regulatory issues surrounding employee retention.

Categorised in: Contracts & Transactions

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