It’s no secret: employee retention is vitally important to any organization that wants to succeed. Successful companies work hard to meet their employees’ needs with training, education, and opportunities for advancement. Here are some sure-fire strategies:
1. Be Clear About Expectations
Employees who clearly understand their expectations tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and perform better. Studies indicate a clear expectation leads to an increase in productivity in the workplace. In addition, employees who are clear on their expectations are more likely to stay at a company because they feel like they know what they are doing.
It’s pertinent to set expectations for your employees before they start working. You want them to know what is expected of them right away so that there are not any surprises later on. You can also regularly review these expectations with your employees to ensure that everyone is still following the same guidelines when they got hired by setting up monthly meetings with each employee where you discuss their goals for next month and make sure everything is going according to plan.
2. Be Transparent About the Future
There are several ways to be transparent with employees, but there is one particularly effective way. When communicating plans for your organization’s future, please explain why you chose this particular action and how it fits into the big picture. It may seem obvious to you, but your employees might not realize its importance if you do not make this explicit.
For example, let’s say you decide to change from a commission-based model to a salary-based model for salespeople at your company. Explain why it is a good idea to convince the employees that this switch will benefit them without being disingenuous or misleading. Perhaps it will help retain critical clients who are not as keen on working with companies that have commission-based pay structures. After discussing this information with employees in an open forum and answering any questions they might have about the changes, they are more likely to accept them than if they felt like their employer had decided without their input or knowledge.
3. Make Employee Engagement Possible
Here are some effective employee engagement strategies:
- Involve employees in decision making
- Communicate your vision for the future
- Give employees a voice
- Recognize employees who do a good job
- Encourage employees to work together
- Promote teamwork
- Develop a sense of belonging
- Reward staff for their hard work
4. Lead by Example
You already know you should lead by example, but it is easier said than done. Authentic leaders are aware of their impact on their employees and understand that their positive and negative behaviour sets the tone for the entire organization. Do you want your employees to be on time? Then it would be best if you were too. Do you want them to reach out to others? Consider doing it yourself from time to time. Do you want them to tell the truth? Then keep in mind that nothing erodes trust more quickly than a lie.
Ultimately, what you do matters much more than what you say. The responsibility of exemplary leadership rests on your shoulders alone; do not forget about it as employee retention strategies.
5. Craft Professional Development Opportunities
A great way to improve employee engagement is by pursuing professional development opportunities. Learning is a great motivator for employees, so it’s in your best interest to develop ways to invest in your team members’ knowledge and skill. This will help them be more successful and valuable employees. Still, it will also help them see that you show interest in their personal growth, which can create an emotional connection and a feeling of job satisfaction.
When thinking about professional development opportunities for your employees, ask yourself what skill areas would be most beneficial for them to advance. What methods could they use? Are there any steps they could take toward industry certification or further education? Do you have any resources that they could utilize? Could you look at creating classes or leadership workshops internally with the right team member? Or would outside training providers be better suited? Could your employees learn more on a professional level through mentorship or job shadowing with other departments?
6. Listen to Your Employees
No one wants to hear themselves talked about for hours on end in the workplace. It’s tiring, and it’s emotionally draining. When you want a productive employee, you must listen to their words and actions as a whole, rather than simply hearing their name or taking an hour-long meeting. Showing that you care is critical; this will show them that you care what they have to say—and it might keep them around longer than if they felt ignored or disrespected by management.
7. Develop a Succession Plan
Your succession plan does not need to be overly complicated. The goal is to ensure that you have a ready candidate when an employee leaves your organization. Here are the basic steps for creating an effective succession plan:
- Identify the skills and knowledge needed for a given role. Identify potential successors within your organization based on the required skills and expertise.
- Develop a plan for training and potential mentoring successors. This will help them prepare for the new role and gain experience.
- Give potential successors opportunities to temporarily practice their new roles, such as during vacation periods or parental leave, to learn what it’s like to be responsible for specific tasks under normal working conditions.
- Make sure that your succession plan is flexible enough to accommodate changes in circumstances (such as people leaving your organization or adding new roles).
8. Show Appreciation for a Job Well Done
Employees are your most valuable assets, so treating them well is an important task. It’s best to aim for top-notch performance and tangible rewards, like bonuses and quarters to the gas tank. But if this level of performance is not reached, it doesn’t mean you should stop rewarding employees with small tokens of appreciation. The little things that count most:
- A thank-you note in an employee’s inbox
- A card on the bulletin board
- Even a compliment at the end of a workday
Final Words
Employee retention is an effective method for bolstering your company’s effectiveness and profitability. However, it can be challenging to find the perfect strategy for retaining your employees. Most businesses have high turnover rates, which causes many business owners to believe that a high turnover rate is a prerequisite for running a business. This isn’t true. While nearly every industry has some degree of employee turnover, there are strategies you can use to improve your company culture and increase the retention of your employees.
