Top Employee Retention Strategies

Top Employee Retention Strategies

The effort to recruit a new employee is both time and money intensive.

Yet so often I see new hires leave their employer within 6 months of their appointment.

The bottom line – employee turnover is expensive.

In a global survey conducted in January 2018 by Society For Human Resource Management, 47% of HR professionals said that employee retention was the top talent management challenge they face, followed by the recruitment process itself (36%).

It is much less expensive to keep a productive employee than it is to hire one.

And it’s now widely accepted that merely offering more money is not the solution to retaining good employees.

Although, your competitors aren’t making things easy for you when they poach your star performer by offering a 15% or 20% increase in their salary.

However, as I stated earlier, holding on to your key people is not all about money – there are several key strategies that you can put in place that to help ensure long term retention, and the good news is that these strategies may only need minimal cost or some cases, no cost at all.

So, what are some effective employee retention strategies?

The top 3 employee retention strategies

Cultivating and nurturing a Positive Company Culture

Company culture is probably the largest driver of employee engagement.

Research again has shown that over 70% of disengaged employees are actively looking for new jobs.

Putting it simply, a company culture reflects the environment, the behaviours, the values, the office rituals, and the language of those working in the workplace.

Developing a positive company culture starts with:

• Having a clear and meaningful Company Vision – this is the big WHY
• Clearly stating the Company Mission – this is all about the HOW
• Embedding Company Values – these are the EXPECTATIONS

Employee engagement is a direct outcome of a positive company culture because it outlines behaviours and norms that are healthy and supportive.

Make sure employees are appreciated and recognised

It’s been said that employees leave their bosses and not the company.

Surveys again have shown that over 60% of employees say they would leave their job is they felt unappreciated.

When managers and supervisors don’t show gratitude towards their staff, this leaves them feeling underappreciated.

The key point here is that making someone feel appreciated is much more than merely saying thank you ever now and then.

When reward and recognition is linked to positive behaviours which in turn are linked the company culture, then you are sending and reinforcing positive messages to your employees.

In other words, as a manager or supervisor, you need to make sure you celebrate and reward behaviours that the company wants to encourage as part of its company culture.

Create development opportunities

In another survey by LinkedIn (as part of its Workplace Learning Report), 94% of employees said they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their professional development.

Losing an employee because of a lack of professional and career development opportunities, is even a bigger loss because it’s those employees who are curious and want to improve – these two traits make for better employees.

Additionally, these curious employees are more likely to be engaged in the first place.

To create development opportunities, the business must first have a learning and development program in place.

The key to building an effective learning and development program is by asking what it is your employees want from it which could include:

• Areas of development
• Learning styles (e.g. digital, external etc)
• Structured or practical training or a blend

Of all the strategies I discussed, creating a learning/development program is probably the most challenging.

At Recruitment Australia, we not only source and place high quality candidates, but we can also work with you to cultivate a workplace that ensures engagement and high levels of productivity.

Contact us at +61 2 96345912 or email info@recruitmentaustralia.net.au