In an increasingly competitive business environment, having the right talent on your side can have a significant impact on the success of your business. With that said, letting go of existing employees and hiring new ones is a part and parcel of the business life.
Studies have shown that replacing employees is an expensive undertaking, even when it comes to entry-level jobs. Replacing an employee that earns $10/hr can end up costing a business well over $3,000. In such a scenario, retaining employees has become the need of the hour.
However, competing with the established organizations backed by an endless HR budget can turn out to be a challenge, especially if money is the only motivation you can offer your employees to stick with you.
If you’re looking for innovative ways to make your best talent want to stick around, try these proven employee retention strategies:
1. Promote Healthy Work-Life Balance
A healthy work-life balance results in improved productivity and increased motivation in the employees to bring their best foot forward. When an employee feels that their personal time is respected, they are more motivated to respect the organization’s time as well. Not to forget, a healthy work-life balance at a job has a direct effect on the retention numbers of an organization as well.
In fact, a study found that a worker who has a good work-life balance are 10% more likely to stay at their company than those who don’t.
In another study, 28% of respondents cited the lack of a healthy work-life balance as the reason they left their previous organization. Not to forget, a better work-life balance will help your employees focus on their professional responsibilities as well.
2. Offer Development Opportunities
When an organization commits to the professional development of its employees, the employees feel that they are valued as resources and their organization is set to invest in their future.
This feeling is a powerful motivator to stick with an organization. A 2018 study concluded that high-skills and soft skills training and development programs are considered some of the top benefits for retaining employees.
The best part is, there are many value for money LMS for SMBs that enable even small organizations to deliver valuable and effective training to their employees without burning a hole in their pockets.
Think of corporate training as another investment. Instead of finding a new employee with the desired skills, you can just help your existing employees develop those skills. This way, you, as a business owner, will have access to better skills for a fraction of the price of hiring a new resource. Additionally, you will improve the chances of retaining the employee(s) that receive said training.
3. Replace Exit Interviews With Stay Interviews
Many managers or business owners wait until the exit interview to find out what is making their employees unhappy. In most cases, the employees’ woes are addressed when they already have an offer from another organization. At this point, even if you are able to solve some of their issues, the chances that the employee would still choose to stick with your organization are slim at this stage.
Instead of waiting for an exit interview, conduct “stay interviews” with all your employees at regular intervals. Ask about the issues that your employees are facing and inform them of your strategy to tackle these issues. These meetings (or interviews) are also a great time to talk about the learning opportunities and growth trajectories (discussed in the previous point) you have planned for them.
These interviews will also make the management seem more accessible to your employees, further promoting “open door policy” that is fast becoming a norm in corporate organizations.
4. Let Employees Communicate Anonymously
Ever heard the saying “Employees don’t leave organizations, they leave managers”? In many organizations, there is no structure for giving feedback to the managers by their team members. Now, one can imagine that many employees would be hesitant to speak up against the problems they have with their managers.
An anonymous platform to voice their opinions will help organizations identify problems that employees cannot speak freely about. These problems may not always be related to managers, and an anonymous platform may even help your organization uncover more serious issues such as sexual harassment.
Conclusion
If you have read this far, you may have noticed a pattern. Outside the realms of financial benefits, all the benefits that will make employees stick to their employers boil down to having a welcoming and growth-focused company culture and keeping the lines of communication open.
When employees see a bright future for themselves within their current organization and can communicate freely with their peers and managers, they have very little reason to look for new opportunities.
For more great career and business tips, check out the other blogs on Career Geek.
