Employee retention is important for a multitude of reasons. The first is that replacing employees requires money and time, from recruitment to onboarding and training. Not only this but remaining employees are often left disheartened when their colleagues, meaning that they don’t perform as well. Following this, there is reduced productivity during the hiring and onboarding stages all around, as staff are required to focus their attention elsewhere. Finally, losing an employee means that the business is losing company knowledge and expertise, which is obviously a gigantic loss.
On the contrary, employee retention leads to better customer experiences, allows for greater consistency, and builds a stronger company culture.
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Benchmark Salaries
Although salary isn’t the key element of employee satisfaction, it certainly plays a huge role. As a result, salary benchmarking is a great way to ensure that your staff feels valued within your organization. If an employee feels that they’re being underpaid and, consequently, undervalued, they will seek employment elsewhere. With this in mind, salary benchmarking allows employers to analyze various pay structures within the industry. In turn, they can update their own approach to guarantee that their employees are being paid correctly, leaving them more satisfied within their role. Salary benchmarking is a huge feature of employee retention.
Hire The Right Individuals
Not every role will be suited to every person, meaning that you must make sure to hire the right individuals. There’s an undeniable connection between employee engagement and employee turnover, with disengaged employees being 3.3 times more likely to leave their company within 90 days. This is a massive investment of money and time alike for the sake of a few months of work. As a result, companies must ensure that their candidates are subjected to a thorough vetting process so that employees and employers alike are able to assess role suitability. Communication is key when it comes to hiring the right individuals.
Deliver A Quality Onboarding
The onboarding process for a job paves the way for the rest of the employment journey, meaning that making a good impression is vital during this time. Onboarding is much more than the signing of a few documents, an office tour, and the setting up of an employee’s desk. In fact, the onboarding process should aim to reinforce the initial good impression, establish clear professional expectations, build relationships with existing team members and new hires, provide opportunities to give feedback, and plan career development. These initial interactions are imperative when it comes to optimizing employee retention.
Welcome Feedback
The worst thing that a company can do is claim to be perfect and reject any ways in which they can improve. By welcoming feedback, your employees will feel that their opinions are valued and appreciated, meaning that they won’t feel the need to seek validation elsewhere. You can welcome feedback in a multitude of ways, with continuous listening being at the forefront. Continuous listening can be administered through the use of annual surveys, as this enables employees to note down their opinions on a regular and anonymous basis. Similarly, you should hold occasional one-on-ones with each of your employees in order to review their performance, ask for feedback, and discuss career development options.
Cultivate Your Employees
It’s important to employees that they feel they have a future at our company, and, without this feeling, they’ll seek employment elsewhere. As a result, you should prioritize internal hires and promotions, offer opportunities for mentorship and coaching, as well as facilitate long-term employee goals. Communication is a huge feature of employee retention and should be properly focused on.
