Want to improve your retention rate? Here are five tips to help you boost your employee retention rate and improve the health of your company in the process.
1.Hire the right people
Employee retention starts with who you hire. To improve your employee retention rate, make sure you are hiring the right people for the jobs in the business (easy enough, right?)
Before you start interviewing for a position, make sure you’re clear on the role, its responsibilities, and what type of person you’re looking for. When you start interviewing candidates, be sure to take enough time to get to know them and get a sense of whether they’re the right fit for the role, your organisation, and the team they’ll be working with.
Being deliberate during the hiring process will ensure that you get the right people into your organisation and when it’s the right fit for you and them, it will increase the chances that they’ll stay with your organisation for years to come.
2.Invest in leaders
When it comes to improving your employee retention rate, a lot of the responsibility falls on management.
If an employee has a manager who trusts and respects them and helps foster their professional growth, they’re far more likely to stay with an organisation than if they have a manager who micromanages them, treats them poorly, or prevents them from reaching their full potential.
Invest in the selection and training of your supervisors and leaders to see your employee retention rate increase.
3.Build a values-based culture
Employees want to feel like their work matters and that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. If your employees don’t feel like your organisation has a mission they can get behind, it could lead them to look elsewhere — and cause your retention rate to plummet. According to recent research from research and advisory firm Gartner, 68% of employees would consider leaving their organisation for an employer that takes a stronger stance on cultural and societal issues.
Therefore, if you want to improve employee retention, focus on building a values-based culture and getting your employees on board with your corporate values and mission. Make sure your mission is known and understood by all employees, people like to feel part of a worthwhile endeavour.
For example, if your company is focused on sustainability, you could send quarterly updates to staff on how your organisation is lowering its carbon footprint, and schedule regular environmentally focused volunteer opportunities for your team. If your mission is to improve your community, keep your team informed on how you’re making that happen and give them plenty of opportunities to get involved.
When you rally your team around your corporate mission and values, it can give them a deeper sense of purpose at work and make it more likely that they’ll stay with your organisation long-term.
4.Compensate your employees well
It doesn’t matter how well you do everything else, if you’re not compensating your employees fairly and competitively, you’re going to struggle with retention. Conversely, if you pay your employees well, they’ll be more likely to remain with your organisation.
When determining your compensation strategy, try to be at or slightly above market, sometimes having a position higher or lower than the market average may be justified, but be sure that you know where you stand relative to the market and why you have chosen to compete at that level.
5.Understand that money isn’t always the answer
Paying your employees well is important. But if you’re struggling to retain talent, throwing money at the issue isn’t always the solution. While many companies feel they need to increase salaries to retain people but that is not why most people leave a job.
If your employee retention rate is lower than you’d like it to be, talk to your employees and ask for their feedback on what’s working for them, what’s not, and what they need from your company to feel more satisfied within their roles.
For example, you might interview employees and find out that their managers aren’t giving them enough praise or recognition. In this case, training your management team on how to deliver encouraging feedback would help improve your retention. Or perhaps, after talking to employees, you discover that your team is struggling with burnout. In this case, implementing policies to help your team create a better work-life balance like rolling out an employee wellness program or shifting to a four-day workweek, could boost retention.
While there’s no denying that compensation is directly tied to retention and turnover, there are a variety of other factors that could be playing into your retention rate, too. To improve your company’s retention, you’ll need to identify and address all of them, beyond just compensation.
Retaining talent is critical for the success of your company and can be time consuming. The more employees you keep with your company over the long term, the more you’ll be able to achieve, innovate, and accomplish, both at the team and organisational levels.
Engage have a 93% retention rate for candidates who have stayed with our clients. We pride ourselves on this as we follow simple but effective processes that win every time. It starts by finding the right candidate for your business and the right fit for your business.
