Whether the labor market is competitive or sluggish, employee retention is much simpler than hiring and training new staff.
There are many benefits to retaining good employees. One of the most significant factors is reduced cost. It’s usually much cheaper to keep the employees you already have than to hire new people. Additionally, keeping on great employees provides cohesiveness within your company, supports on-the-job training opportunities, and more.
While the number one reason employees stay on at a company is competitive pay and good benefits, there are additional factors that can help you keep excellent employees on your team for years to come.
Five Techniques for Retaining Great Employees
Retaining good employees can be difficult if your industry traditionally has a revolving door or has had a slow economic recovery. However, retaining long-term employees is a great way to create a healthy company culture.
If you have had difficulty retaining employees in the past, we are here to provide you with five actions you can take right away to keep valuable employees on the job.
1. Set employees up for success
Build business systems into your company culture. This starts with onboarding and initial training and continues through the everyday function of a role within your business.
Setting up processes and procedures and initiating policies for each part of your company allows employees to:
- Understand what is expected
- Perform their duties at a higher quality
- Suggest improvements that can cause company-wide impacts
- Feel stable and supported the moment they are hired
2. Provide professional development
Not only do employees want to learn and grow, your business continuously needs employees with new skills. Why not foster employee enthusiasm for on-the-job learning and formal certification or education by providing professional development opportunities?
Talk with employees about what skills you predict will be necessary for further acceleration in your industry, and find out which employees would be interested in training. You can both support learning on the job and incentivize formal education.
Employees with new certifications and knowledge bases will create a recruiting pool within the company. This makes things much easier on your hiring team and can only improve the strength of your business.
3. Consider how your business supports a work/life balance
Some companies provide excellent pay and benefits but require employees to be available 24/7. Often, these kinds of businesses have a revolving door of employment. Consider how your business can best support a healthy work/life balance.
- Could your employees work on flex hours and work remotely?
- If employees have to be in the office, are expectations reasonable and fair?
- Does the company culture expect them to put Slack or Teams on their phones so they are constantly connected, or is there a time when everyone gets off of the platform and goes about their lives?
- Could your company support uninterrupted personal development time?
- Does your company help with things like childcare or gym memberships?
- Does your business provide the benefits the majority of your employees want?
There are many ways to support work/life balance. Some industry norms like the expectation of constant availability or 12-hour shifts may be something you can challenge in your own business. You may be surprised what a refreshed workforce can get done in their standard work hours.
4. Share your goals – and how you plan to achieve them
Your employees want to be working toward something great. It’s hard to be a “cog in the machine” or “climbing the career ladder.” No one wants to feel that way, and if your employees are contributing to something exciting, they won’t feel that way.
So, be sure to share your goals and plans throughout the year. Let employees know how they can contribute – and share the benefits they will receive for doing so.
This type of activity can become more than a simple staff meeting or company-wide email. It can become a game or challenge to which employees can contribute.
That leads us right into point number five below.
5. Set up a system for recognition
When an employee hits a milestone, does a great job, or reaches your goal for the department – it’s time to give them the due recognition.
Create a system that sets expectations for this kind of recognition. For example, an employment milestone may trigger a raise of a particular percentage or an extra day of PTO. Meeting a sales goal could mean that you give an employee a promised bonus. Recognition for a great job may be shown with a virtual high five or a gift basket.
Keeping recognition consistent means that employees know what they are working toward – and it keeps things fair.
Are you ready to build an effective employee retention system? Contact Business Success Consulting Group to get started.
