Why Employee Retention is the Key to Success.

Employee retention and turnover is an important factor for many firms. Employing the best people that are able to provide the most value is key to growing a business and delivering stellar results. Turnover is costly as there are large expenses in finding new people and training them for the job. It could cost up to 30% of the worker’s yearly salary to fill a position. Highly skilled workers can be tough to find, especially for a job with specific requirements. Companies need to protect and maintain this valuable asset once they have it. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and firms lose good people to their competitors. There are several things to consider to increase employee retention and avoid turnover.

Strategies to Reduce Turnover

• Investing In Skills and Training

Only 15% of employees worldwide are fully engaged with their jobs according Gallup. That means many people are ripe or eager to change jobs and would not mind a call from a recruiter or staffing agency. In fact, 59% of employees have been with their current firm for less than 3 years.

Interestingly, 42% of employees suggest that learning, development and training would be the key to get them more engaged with their work. Enriching activities that keep their mind active and their skills improving are important, rather than rote work that is done over and over again. Firms can implement a number of strategies, including: sending team members to conferences or seminars, having regular internal training sessions, bringing in outside experts, paying for a course to be done after work, and much more. E-learning is another new and exciting field that allows employees to get additional training from the convenience of a hand-held device.

A key component to improve engagement and retention is investing in the learning and development department. Not only will the company benefit from increased retention, but the firm will have more valuable employees with a broad set of skills. 

• Meetings and Tracking

Meetings are important to retention. Endless, wasteful meetings that the employee feels are unproductive or boring may be so detrimental to job performance that the person eventually decides to leave. However, meetings that are one-on-one with managers and compatriots may unlock issues the employee is having at work, fueling understanding and employee retention.

Whether it is with job tasks, team members troubles, external issues or anything else, these concise yet penetrating meetings may actually be the reason that the employee remains at the firm. Once an issue is revealed, the manager should track and engage with the staff member over time. Regular meetings should be held to be sure the issue is being addressed. With this kind of care and consideration, turnover is much less likely.

• Compensation or Benefits

Of course, salary and total compensation are important. If someone seems like they may be willing to leave, don’t be afraid to invest in them and raise their salary. They will grow into the role and the compensation over time and be incentivized to work harder to truly earn their new salary.

For firms on a tighter budget, there are other fringe benefits and compensations which may make up for salary. These include better health care benefits, a corporate parking spot, tickets to shows, or even a gym membership. While these all may have relatively low monetary value compared to a raise, they do indicate a true exchange of value which the employee will appreciate.

• Recognition and Approval

Last but not least, never overlook recognizing achievements. Whether it is something minor like completing forms on time, or a major sales contract, public recognition and approval goes a long way to keeping staff engaged and retained.

When it comes time for an employee to leave your organization, it is recommended to conduct an exit interview. This gives the employee an opportunity to freely discuss what he or she liked/disliked and provide feedback about the position and company. Exit interviews can help address problem areas within the organization in order to prevent other employees from resigning. 

If your company is having a hard time retaining employees, Platinum Group has the perfect solution for you. Register today for Platinum Group’s free webinar series — HR Transformation Challenge. This four part series consists of specific tops on how to: Attract, Retain, Engage and Manage employees and their data.

Want to learn more about the HR Transformation Challenge?

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