People sometimes stay at the same workplace for years simply because they don’t feel the need to go elsewhere. Some employees job hop religiously every 2 to 3 years for the change, experience and pay growth. In any normal organization, staff would be a mix of old and new (unless you are working in a startup, where everyone is new)
In most cases, employers want to retain good staff that is a good fit culturally and performance-wise. We’ll discuss tips for retaining employees in this post, but first, we’ll go over what employee retention is.
How to Improve Employee Retention
Most people report that they leave jobs because of a poor work-life balance, lack of flexible schedule, or lack of career growth opportunities. Employees can compromise on pay rates over the short term but having rigid work schedules and demanding managers will have them running for another job.
1. Have Comprehensive Hiring Processes
Employee retention is often all about hiring the right people. The best way to do this is to have a recruitment process that ensures you hire the right people. This does not mean that you have a painfully prolonged process over weeks, wasting your and the candidates’ time.
Build an interview and testing process that helps assess the candidate and their fit with your work culture. Where relevant, have direct managers weigh in on the candidate selection. This will give them ownership over the candidate selection and should help them mentor them on the job.
2. Build a Supportive Work Environment
Memorable workplaces are those where most staff work as a team to support each other. We all enjoy working in environments where we feel supported, which is key to retaining employees.
The most effective way to do this is by providing on-the-job training, following effective and clear communication, building team spirit through social events and offering benefits and perks.
3. Providing Training and Development.
Training and development are key for employee retention. Employees need to be supported in their job skills, particularly in a technologically advanced environment. Similarly, soft skill training is also good for improving soft skills across the entire hierarchy of your organization.
4. Always communicate.
Communication is a pillar of all human relations. When employees are clear about what they have to do, and there are open lines of communication for them to ask questions when and if they face problems, they’re more likely to feel confident about doing the job
For instance, as a manager, saying “You need to improve results next quarter” is less effective than saying, “Next quarter improvements are needed in XYZ areas, and you can do so following ABC strategy.”
Communication is also key for higher-level executives, as employees need to hear from business leaders about how the business is faring and how they are contributing to overall success.
5. Offer Benefits and Perks.
Benefits and perks are deal sweeteners for employee retention. Offering these shows employees that the business is genuinely concerned about their wellbeing. For example, benefits like health or life insurance ensure employees get appropriate care if they get sick.
Other perks can be fitness discounts, access to corporate or discounted packages, and even a simple salad or coffee bar in the workplace. Whatever you offer according to your budget and working style needs to be communicated to the employees that it is being done for their benefit.
Retaining employees start by hiring the right person. But after the hiring process, it is an ongoing process to work to ensure that employees feel safe, comfortable continuously and empowered to succeed at their jobs.
Sadia Zaheer holds a Masters in Business Administration from IBA, Karachi. After working in several financial institutions in Client Management, Corporate Lending, Islamic Banking and Product Management she jumped careers to pursue a career in writing.
She is a Finance, Business and HR Development writer with four years of experience. She reads a lot and takes care of her multiple cats to remain calm.
