It is no secret that maintaining a skilled workforce in your organization is a challenge. A common scenario looks like this:
A top performer in one of your core teams suddenly resigns, making you feel at a loss. You then want the remaining team members to shoulder additional responsibility while you search for their replacement. This unexpected change in the work environment pushes the remaining team members to think about making a job switch, and the spiral goes on. Besides this, it tends to affect employee morale, which will ultimately reduce performance at work.
This brings us to the underlying question: Why are employees leaving their jobs in unprecedented numbers?
The trend of voluntary resignations has been termed ‘The Great Resignation’. If you ask a departing employee, you will likely hear they are leaving for one of the following reasons:
- Inadequate salary
- Limited career growth
- Work-related stress
- Lack of recognition
- Lack of learning opportunities, and more
If you are also worried about the sudden surge of resignations placed by your employees, it’s time to rethink employee retention strategies. Here are some actions you can take for better employee management and talent retention:
1. Introduce Flexible Work Policies
In relation to the talent shortages faced by different industries, a recent poll found that 57% of top executives plan to provide flexible work arrangements to their employees. Businesses have started to reopen after the sudden closures resulting from the pandemic. This is why it is important for organizations to consider the needs/preferences of employees who want to work remotely, or at least for a few days per month.
Another survey emphasizes the need for a flexible work environment with its findings that say one out of every three professionals would look for a new job if they are asked to return to the office full time.
If it is possible without facing any significant loss, you should consider this as one of the most important employee retention strategies.
2. Strengthen Relationships with Your Employees
Another key to learning how to retain employees is to understand the underlying reason(s) why individuals would like to stay or quit. If you dig deeper, you will find that many of the employees are leaving their jobs not just for better compensation, but to experience a sense of belonging. They want to build good connections with their colleagues and feel appreciated for what they do.
As per Mckinsey’s findings, some of the main causes of attrition are:
- Not being valued by the manager or organization
- Not having a sense of belonging
By strengthening relationships with your employees, you can create an environment where they feel more welcomed and valued. This will not only help you with the retention of employees but also boost their morale and lead to higher quality work.
3. Invest in Professional Development
As technology continues to improve the way we work, upskilling has become important for employees. A majority of young employees prefer to leave a company that does not offer professional development opportunities.
This takes us to the next lesson on how to retain employees: Help your employees identify areas for professional growth. By gaining new skills and competencies, they will be able to help your business grow as the requirements evolve.
Make it a priority to invest in your employees’ professional development and provide a challenging environment to help them grow. You can do so by allowing them to attend virtual conferences and providing tuition reimbursement for continuing education. This will help prevent employee turnover, especially at a time when there is stiff competition.
4. Foster Teamwork
Another important thing that can help you with talent retention is to understand the basic human nature of being valued. In many organizations, the work environment has been designed in a way that every individual comes to the office to fit into a system, get the work done, and go home. They are not allowed to go beyond their work routines and contribute more.
If this also happens at your workplace, now is the time to make the change for higher retention of employees. Start with encouraging all your employees to contribute their ideas at work. Promote teamwork and create opportunities for them to collaborate and accommodate different work styles and expertise.
5. Act on Employee Feedback
For the top management and HR team, maintaining good company culture is important and needs continual improvement. This is where understanding employees’ perspectives play a vital role. But more often, businesses fail to take action based on the results of various employee engagement surveys.
To learn how to create a retention strategy for the long term, make sure that you share positive feedback about work performance and areas of opportunities the employees can do more with your workforce. The next important thing is to create action plans based on survey results and let employees play an active role in the process. Taking action with employees will communicate that their input matters.
6. Reinforce DEI
Having differences in your work setting, providing the same opportunities to all, and letting your employees from different backgrounds feel like they are valued members of your organization are the goals of DEI. Organizations that do not focus on DEI practices often miss out on opportunities to utilize their team’s true potential.
If that’s a missing part of your company’s culture, invest in DEI programs that are essential for employee retention and engagement. Strong diversity climates are more likely to have employees with higher job satisfaction. The more satisfied your team is, the less likely the members will think of leaving the job early.
7. Regularly Recognize Employee Contributions
As stated above, employees want to feel appreciated for the work they do. This is more important in the current “anywhere workforce” in which an employer’s gratitude can make a big impact. Institute reward and recognition programs to boost retention
For example, you can incentivize innovative ideas to be implemented at work with formal monetary rewards. Similarly, thank your employees formally who go the extra mile via a recognition letter. You don’t need to invest a lot of money in this activity, just be sincere.
8. Take Care of Employees Compensation as per Market Standards
One of the most fundamental reasons behind employee turnover is getting paid less than what they deserve. It is obvious for employees to feel attracted to a position where they get paid more than their current job along with getting various other perks.
Hence, you should focus on talent retention by paying the employees adequate compensation and adjusting their salaries regularly to grow with the market and their level of skills and experience. This should be above and beyond the basic employment benefits like health insurance or retirement plans, which also help raise their job satisfaction.
Conclusion
It is inevitable for some employees to leave your organization sooner than you’d expect. However, you can make their decisions tougher by implementing the right employee retention strategies. Even if a few employees leave your firm knowing they are valued, they will likely promote your brand and come back to work for you again.
Employee Retention Starts With Recruiting Right – Join Hands with Connect Tech+Talent
Talent retention starts with hiring the right employees for your organization. Hire right by partnering with Connect Tech+Talent, a leading staffing agency in Austin, Texas. Connect Tech+Talent, with its database of thousands of talented candidates, can make it easier for you to employ the right individuals who will stay in the long run. Talk to a Connect Tech+Talent hiring consultant today.
