According to Indeed, the average company cost to hire a new employee ranges from $4,000 to $20,000. That doesn’t even include salary and benefits. For any company — no matter what size — losing an employee essentially means losing out on these funds. If you have a high turnover rate and low employee retention, this loss can easily send your business’s trajectory downard. While there’s certainly a time and place for growth and hiring, it shouldn’t be the result of multiple employees wanting to leave or a fast turnaround problem.
Retaining top talent is more critical than ever in today’s competitive job market. Your company’s ability to foster a positive work environment can significantly impact retention and the overall environment of your business.
So, what is an attractive work culture in the eyes of potential hires and top-talent employees? It’s easier to create than you might think, as long as you’re willing to focus on collaboration, connection, and communication within your company.
Boost Team Morale
Happy employees are often productive employees. Beyond that, they’re more likely to have a positive attitude at work, and give positive feedback of the workplace to others. Overall, satisfied employees who feel heard and valued will want to give back to your business. They’ll put in more effort, and encourage others to do the same, and they can end up being brand ambassadors in and out of the workplace.
Instigating this behavior is no simple task, but can be easily achieved by boosting the team morale.
Your employees work together for hours each day. If they don’t get along or aren’t communicating effectively, not only will it show up in the quality of work, but it will create a negative and potentially hostile workplace environment. Low team morale can be caused by disconnection, micromanagement, or even an absence of collaboration.
To boost connection, communication, and collaboration, think of each employee as a building brick to strengthen the house that is your team. By not utilizing each brick, your house will crumble. Make sure everyone has the chance to participate in meetings and events, and ensure accessibility in everything you do.
Use digital communication tools to check in with team members, let them share how their days are going, or communicate with each other in a more casual fashion.
Finally, let everyone have some fun. Consider hosting more events or parties for your team. Put together team-building exercises or “fun” days that allow everyone to get to know each other more. The closer your team feels, the better their workflow will be. Plus, people who feel like they have support from their co-workers are more likely to stay in one place.
Prioritize Well-Being
Fostering a strong team environment is great, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on the individual needs of your employees. Workplace communication is an important tool that not enough people prioritize. A lack of communication can lead to major problems in a work environment, including low productivity and unhappy employees.
You can improve communication in the workplace by:
- Listening;
- Paying attention to feedback;
- Participating in meetings;
- Creating an open culture for employees to express their opinions.
If an employee doesn’t feel like they’re being heard, they’re also likely to assume their opinions and ideas don’t matter. To avoid this, open the door of communication and make yourself accessible, as a leader.
That doesn’t mean you have to wait for your employees to come to you with problems. Check in with your team regularly, especially when it comes to their mental health. Simply asking how they’re doing and what’s going on in their lives can make a big difference. You’ll be able to tune in to what each employee needs, and provide an environment that caters to their well-being. When you establish a culture that prioritizes mental health, you’ll improve retention rates.
You can build that kind of culture by creating de-stressing areas at work, establishing safe spaces for communication, offering flexible scheduling, and recognizing your employees for their hard work. Not only will it keep your team engaged, but it lets them know their hard work isn’t going unnoticed.
Retention and Recruiting
A resilient work culture absolutely helps with employee retention. But, as a bonus, this kind of culture is also likely to attract new employees, too. Things like a competitive salary and benefits are tried and true methods for getting new recruits in the door. But, a positive company culture can be the tipping point for potential hires.
Additionally, you can bring more great employees in the door by offering your current staff referral bonuses. When you know you have a positive culture where your employees are happy, they’ll be happy to do some leg work for you and encourage their friends, family members, and other qualified individuals to apply for a job. Again, they’ll become brand ambassadors for your business. As a result, you won’t have to “sell” the perks of your company to potential recruits. The right people for each job are more likely to be interested when they hear about the positive perks of your company culture from someone they already know and trust. If you know anything about marketing, you’re aware of how effective word-of-mouth advertising can be. The same is true when it comes to recruitment efforts.
At the end of the day, everyone who works for your business will value being heard and understood over getting a hefty paycheck. Fair pay and benefits are great, and they should be a priority within your company. But, if you have a toxic culture, people aren’t going to stick around long enough to care about what’s going into their bank account. They’ll quickly move on to a better environment.
Hiring top talent is just the beginning. If you’re in a leadership position, listening to your employees, accepting feedback, and letting them know they matter will greatly improve retention. More importantly, it will foster a company culture that will make people want to work there – and stay there. On paper, that’s literally worth thousands of dollars per employee. Throughout your company’s lifetime, it’s invaluable.
