Best Ways to Improve Employee Retention

Hackneyed but very true, a company is nothing without the right employees as employees are an organization’s most valuable asset. Though this should be the case, many companies don’t do everything they should to make employees want to stay. A hard-working, talented worker might find that there are a lot more opportunities available to them, so having a great place to work in would be essential for them. But having a plan to get the best ways to improve employee retention would be a lot of help for your company.

But if you aren’t doing your part to make them feel valued, don’t be surprised if they decide to call it quits. Recognizing hard work, keeping an open line of communication, and staying transparent about where the company is headed are just a few ways to keep your employees happy and your turnover rate low.

If you have a high employee turnover rate, or you want to find a lot of great talent that you don’t want to risk losing, it’s time to start giving people a reason to stay.

Reasons for Employee Departure

While there are plenty of reasons for a great employee leaving a company, there are ways to pinpoint the exact reason/s for an employee’s departure. Exit interviews can provide invaluable insight into the employee perspective of your company and help determine whether your employee retention strategies need improvement or not.

More than likely, you’ll hear the departing employee cite one or more of the following reasons for leaving their job:

• Inadequate salary and benefits
• Overworked and/or unsupported
• Limited opportunity for career growth/advancement
• Bad work-life balance
• Lack of recognition
• Boredom
• Unhappiness with management/co-workers
• Concerns about the company’s direction or financial health
• Dissatisfaction with the company culture
• The desire to make a change

While not all of these reasons are your company’s fault entirely, there is still a greater benefit to be gained by addressing these issues to retain future prospects and help nurture a better atmosphere within your organization.

How to Improve Your Employee Retention

Job markets in different countries can either be in favor of employers or employees, rarely does it favor both. This is where the Philippine market comes into play because there is a deep talent pool in the country for many different talent specializations as well as companies wanting to find suitable candidates that balance out the usual situation of a market being in favor of employers.  Candidates with in-demand skills likely won’t have to wait long to find a new opportunity. Many companies never stopped hiring during the pandemic, and a lot that did are starting to expand staff levels again. This is in part due to the growth of the outsourcing industry.

If you sense your business is at risk of losing top talent, you need to move fast to shore up your employee retention strategies. Here are some deliberate actions that can help boost an employees’ job satisfaction and increase your ability to hold onto valued workers and improve employee retention:

1. Onboarding and Orientation

Every new hire should be set up for success from the start. Your onboarding process should teach new employees not only about the job but also about the company culture and how they can contribute to and thrive in it. Don’t skimp on this critical first step. The training and support you provide from day one, whether in person or virtually, can set the tone for the employee’s entire tenure at your firm. At Booth & Partners, we provide a Jumpstart Program that assesses and cultivates an employee’s skills, performance, and potential for a few months. This helps employees to become accustomed to not only the type of work they do but also the expectations placed upon them and how they can surpass those expectations.

2. Mentorship Programs

Pairing a new employee with a mentor is a great component to add to your extended onboarding process, especially in a remote work environment. Mentors can welcome newcomers into the company, offer guidance and be a guide. This is a win-win scenario; New team members learn the ropes from experienced employees and, in return, they offer a fresh viewpoint to their mentors.

Although, this opportunity of mentorship should not be limited to new employees. Your existing staff — and your overall employee retention outlook and team’s job satisfaction — can greatly benefit from mentor-mentee relationships.

3. Competitive Pay

No matter how many cultural changes you make in your company, it might not make a difference if you aren’t paying your employees a competitive salary. In many cases, a job you enjoy but that doesn’t cover your financial needs isn’t worth it, especially if another company will give you the same job for more money. The desire for higher pay is one of the most common reasons people leave their jobs, so don’t overlook it. 

It’s essential for companies to pay their employees’ compensation as competitively as possible, which means employers need to evaluate and adjust salaries regularly. Even if your business can’t increase pay right now, consider whether you could provide other forms of compensation, such as bonuses. Don’t forget about improving health care benefits and retirement plans, which can help raise employees’ job satisfaction, too.

Also Read: 5 Simple and Effective Ways to Reduce Staffing Expenses of Your Business

4. Perks

Perks can make your workplace stand out to potential new hires and re-engage current staff, all while boosting employee morale. Flexible schedules and remote work options are the perks many professionals value most. In addition, paid parental leave is also a big plus. Simply providing more perks or features in the workplace will be a big help in improving employee retention whether it be a gym, breakout room, etc. No one wants to sit on a desk for 8 hours straight and not have something to do to relieve stress.

5. Health & Wellness Offerings

Keeping employees healthy — mentally, physically, and financially — is just good business. The pandemic prompted many leading employers to expand and improve their wellness offerings to help employees feel supported and prioritize their well-being. Health insurance, stress management programs, retirement planning services, and reimbursement for fitness classes are just some examples of what your business might consider providing to employees.

6. Communication

The pandemic helped underscore the importance of good workplace communication. Your direct reports should feel they can come to you with ideas, questions, and concerns at any time. And as a leader, you need to make sure you’re doing your part to help promote timely, constructive, and positive communication across the entire team, including on-site and remote employees. Make sure you proactively connect with each team member on a regular basis, too, to get a sense of their workload and job satisfaction.

Giving and receiving feedback from your team members regularly is critical. Team members want to know how they are doing, how they can progress within the company, whether they’re valued and how they can add value. At my organization, we use a service called TinyPulse that allows team members to communicate anonymously to the entire company.

7. Provide Positive Feedback

Good work can often go unnoticed. At many companies, the only time employees might get attention for their work is when they make a mistake. Of course, issues need to be addressed, but only focusing on the bad can lead to a bad work environment. This can also lead to some of your employees getting overlooked just because they’re doing their jobs well. Your employees might be excelling every day, with no one from management ever calling attention to it. At a certain point, employees will likely begin to feel underappreciated if their work is only commented on when they do something wrong.

8. Training and Development

Many employers are abandoning the annual performance review in favor of more frequent meetings with team members. In these one-on-one meetings, talk with your employees about their short- and long-term professional goals and help them visualize their future with the company. While you should never make promises you can’t keep, talk through potential career advancement scenarios together and lay out a realistic plan for reaching those goals.

Make it a priority to invest in your workers’ professional development. Give them time to attend virtual conferences, provide tuition reimbursement or pay for continuing education. Also, don’t forget about succession planning, which can be a highly effective method for advancing professional development and building leadership skills.

9. Recognition and Rewards

Every person wants to feel appreciated for the work they do. And in today’s “anywhere workforce,” an employer’s gratitude can make an especially big impact. So be sure to thank your direct reports who go the extra mile and explain how their hard work helps the organization. Some companies set up formal rewards systems to incentivize great ideas and innovation, but you can institute compelling recognition programs even if you have a small team or limited budget.

10. Work-Life Balance

What message is your time management sending to employees? Do you expect staff to be available around the clock? A healthy work-life balance is essential to job satisfaction. People need to know their managers understand they have lives outside of work — and recognize that maintaining balance can be even more challenging when working from home. Encourage employees to set boundaries and take their vacation time. And if late nights are necessary to wrap up a project, consider giving them extra time off to compensate.

11. Flexible Work Arrangements

In the past year, many businesses have learned how important it is to offer flexibility when it comes to work arrangements. Many people can do their work from home, and while this has been necessary during the pandemic, consider making it a permanent option if remote work is possible for your company. There are plenty of amazing benefits to working at home for both you and your employees. Companies all over the world have started to offer remote work options, which is a perk many people are looking for, so not offering this can make you fall behind.

Aside from where your employees work, consider when they work. Most office jobs require the same set of hours, but this might not be what works for everyone. Is it really necessary for all of your employees to work the same set of hours every day? For some companies, it might not be. If traditional hours aren’t entirely necessary for your company, allow your employees some flexibility.

So think sooner than later about what you can offer employees if remote work on a permanent basis isn’t an option. A compressed workweek? Flextime? Or maybe a partial telecommuting option? All of the above can help relieve stress for your team — and boost employee retention.

12. Be Open to Feedback

As opposed to item #7 Provide positive feedback; This point is solely pointed at the employer being on the receiving end. There are countless articles and guides from professionals on what companies can do to improve your employee retention rate, but not all of these will help you. Your employees might want different things than what others recommend, and they’re the ones you want to worry about. If you really want to know what you need to do to keep your employees happy, ask them. Let them know that you’re open to feedback. Offer an anonymous feedback form, or hold individual meetings to get their opinion.

13. Empowering Teamwork and Independence

You should encourage all your employees, not just star players, to contribute ideas and solutions. Promote teamwork by creating opportunities for collaboration, accommodating individuals’ work styles, and giving everyone the latitude to make decisions and course corrections, if needed.

As important as teamwork is, there is also a need to develop independence between one another. Allow everyone to take full ownership of his or her own responsibilities. Managers are there to convey trust, facilitate and support. Since companies hire experienced and talented people who know very well how to do their job, they should aim at empowering them as much as possible and making everyone feel like an entrepreneur in their own area of competence.

Also Read: 7 Virtual Team Building Exercises Your Remote Team Will Enjoy

14. Avoid Micromanagement

If you’re hiring talented individuals, there’s no need to micromanage. Allowing employees to take on projects they haven’t participated in before or have no experience in allows for growth and encourages them to take initiative. It’s better to want employees in your organization to take risks and try new things. If they succeed, then they have the experience to add to their resume. If they fail, then they learn. It’s a win-win either way. In some cases, attrition can be greatly reduced through regular check-ins with your employees. Giving them the opportunity to discuss their strengths, career aspirations, and the items they struggle with will show your workforce that you’re dedicated to their professional growth and addressing their concerns.

15. Milestone Acknowledgement

A final tip for promoting employee retention is to shine a light on notable achievements. Whether your team finishes ahead of the deadline on a major project, or a worker reaches a five-year work anniversary, seize the opportunity to mark the milestone together. Even if you need to celebrate virtually, it can be a meaningful and memorable moment for everyone.

Improving Your Employee Retention Rate with a Reliable Outsourcing Partner

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to improving your employee retention. By evaluating your efforts, you can meet every employee’s job satisfaction. That includes staying current on market standards for salary and benefits, and best practices for developing attractive workplace culture and strong manager-employee relations.

It’s inevitable that some team members will leave your organization sooner than you’d like. But you can at least make their decision a little tougher. And if those employees leave your firm knowing they were valued and supported, they’ll likely say good things about your business and, perhaps, even come back to work for you one day.

In the end, the key to increasing your employee retention rate is knowing that people like to be appreciated and advance in a company based on their hard work, so why not use that to your advantage?

If you want to improve your employee retention rate, one of the best options you got is to outsource your team from a reliable outsourcing company like Booth & Partners. We have a tailored recruitment process and services that will help ensure to provide you with the right people, right solutions for your business needs. Get in touch with us today to know more about our services and how we can help you get a better employee retention rate.