The 5 Biggest Employee Retention Problems and How to Solve Them

Have you ever wondered why people leave your business? Retention insight is not always something enterprises have, especially if you only get a handful of resignations every year. You’d think that money is always why employees leave, but sometimes that’s not the case. If you’re looking to keep your top-performing employees, you need to solve the many challenges of employee retention. Here are the five biggest employee retention problems and how you can resolve them.

Problem 1: Lack of Training and Company Culture

Here’s a scenario: new staff members first arrive at a company. Unless you’re hiring highly experienced senior-level employees, they often don’t know exactly what is expected of them. They don’t have a guide to show them the ropes, which can lead to confusion and even failure.  

This is why training is so crucial. When new employees have proper training and can learn the ways of the business, they can start effectively contributing to the organization. 

Solution 

It takes a lot of time to train a new hire, especially if they require expert-level skills. Offer these new hires a hands-on training program that helps them learn the ins and outs of their role.

For example, areas like email project management are rarely taught outside the company, so help them learn the ropes.

Most organizations will opt for online training over traditional methods. The flexibility of online education gives additional opportunities for individual attention and learning. It also lets the employee learn how the company operates. 

Aside from in-person training sessions, you can also offer online courses. These can help train your newbies and reinforce the lessons they learned.  

You also need to ensure your corporate culture aligns with the expectations and requirements of your industry.

Problem 2: Lack of Recognition

Everyone started at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to business. You can’t expect employees to act like robots, so some recognition of their efforts is always something they expect.

Management should acknowledge every small accomplishment by an employee. Your workers want to know that what they do matters and that they’re appreciated. If employees feel their hard work is going unnoticed, they will move on to a more rewarding job. 

Solution

This is one of the retention problems that many employees are looking closely at. To make sure your employees are recognized, implement regular performance reviews. Ask each employee for feedback on how they are doing. Then ask them how they think they are doing and suggest how you can improve your business. 

If the feedback is positive, celebrate their successes. Create an internal recognition program where they can receive awards or prizes. You should also have other channels to show pride in them, like virtual events for employee recognition. 

A simple “thank you” or “props” can go a long way. Even a small gift or a pat on the back can do wonders.

Problem 3: Micromanagement

Many leaders like things done their way, and it’s fine in many situations. However, it’s vital to remember that employees want autonomy, especially if they’re doing their jobs correctly.

 Micromanaging can be a common issue that can make entire departments quit. This can be unnerving when a person is closely watching your every move and constantly checks up on you.

Employees need the freedom to complete their tasks, but they also have to know when boundaries need to be set. 

Solution

If you want to improve the productivity and efficiency of your team members, you need to learn how to delegate. You must suggest guidelines, but don’t impose them on anyone. 

If micromanaged, many team members will feel they were restricted from doing certain things. They didn’t have the autonomy to work how they wanted. Work on being there to support rather than supervise.

Start by planning out each team member’s tasks and assigning them. Then, do a quick check-in to see if they need help. If everything looks good, you can sit back and wait for completion.  

Problem 4: Unrealistic Expectations from Employees

One of the top retention problems that cause high turnover is unrealistic expectations from managers. While you can set metrics to make your team’s job easier to track, it’s another thing to expect linear positive gains every time.

They expect their staff to go above and beyond the call of duty, especially in businesses that follow strict deadlines that affect the company’s ROI. When managers place unreasonable pressures on their employees, this only leads to resentment, burnout, and poorer performance. 

Solution 

To avoid this issue, you must be realistic with your employees and their expectations. You can’t expect someone to do tons of work without giving them the resources to complete those projects. 

Set clear goals for your company and outline the expectations for each department or team. The more realistic the goals are, the easier it is for employees to succeed. Your team needs to feel comfortable working without the constant fear of being reprimanded.

Never set situations where employees sacrifice their personal lives too often just to complete their work for you. Encourage good work-life balance and respect your employees’ off-time.

Problem 5: Unclear Upward Mobility

Many employees are loyal to their company but get fed up with seeing their superiors make millions in wages while barely breaking even. New employees need to know where they are headed when they join your company. 

When there is no upward mobility, it makes it harder for talented individuals to stay. They want to move up in the company but feel stuck, which breeds dissatisfaction within your business, resulting in an exodus of good talent.

Solution

As one of the retention problems you need to solve, you need to make plans for your workforce. Discuss their career path and map out where they will be one year from now. This requires a commitment from you to hire and train the right people. 

If you want to retain top talent, you should find out what they aspire to do in the future. Then, introduce them to other roles they might enjoy. Be honest with them about their potential career path and their future with the company. 

Have a clear vision of where you want to lead your company. Map out each position, who performs the role, and what it takes to move up. Make sure your company doesn’t rely on one rockstar employee for everything; instead, use a workflow with clearly defined processes.

The Bottom Line

The biggest causes of poor retention rates are not always related to money. Look beyond this and identify the retention problems that cause resignations within your company. 

Make sure you know which factors play a part in your attrition rate, then address each of them head-on. These solutions should improve your chances of retaining your top performers. 

You can also find custom outsourcing solutions that can help you scale your business and improve retention.