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As we discussed yesterday, a recent survey states that one in three employees is likely to leave your company in the next 6 months. That number is staggering, and so is the cost it can have on your business. What’s worse is that projections don’t show this trend changing any time soon. As we discussed, between cash compensation and stock options, there are some ways to keep your talent on board.
There is only so much you can do during the recruiting process to ensure that your workers are there for the long haul. But, there is a lot that can be done for your existing employees to keep them from wandering. Hopefully your company develops a great retention program like competitive cash compensation, stock options, and great engagement. And when these conditions exist, you can bring those great features of your company to your potential hires to get them on board faster.
Learn how to keep your employees happy and working with the second HR Playbook from BLR®. Check out Employee Retention and Satisfaction: How to Attract, Retain, and Engage the Best Talent at Your Organization.
Engagement: The Crucial Element
Any retention package can be easily ignored by employees if they are not feeling engaged. It’s worse if they feel another job will keep them better engaged. Some employees are even willing to take pay cuts if it means they can find engagement at another company. So it’s no surprise that engagement has been shown to increase retention, especially when combined with other retention practices.
Some of the most successful types of engagement include:
- Gamification. This includes competitions, goal-setting exercises, performance rewards, success statistics, and status recognition. Studies have shown this type of approach to be very successful.
- A clear career path. Create a future for your employees. A survey by Mercer suggests that 78% of employees would stay with their current employer if they knew what their career path was.
- Trust. Lack of trust still causes many employees to leave. If you generate trust between your managers and employees, you’ll see fewer of them walk out the door. Recent trends show that transparency over cloak-and-dagger politics goes a long way.
- Recognition. Even the quiet employee likes to know he or she is doing a good job. A reminder through verbal communication or official recognition helps an employee to feel recognized.
- Background skills and talents. The same survey by Saba Software, Inc., reveals that 31% of employees felt that their employers did not recognize their background skills and talents—the things that they are good at that their current job doesn’t make use of. Allowing employees to make full use of their capabilities, if possible, can help them feel engaged.
- Increasing responsibility. An increase in responsibility for an employee who has been working hard shows that you acknowledge his or her hard work and will reward it with higher-level tasks. The change in pace can be enough to keep an employee interested. It’s important to make sure these employees are rewarded in some way for the increase in responsibility, even if it’s something as simple as a one-time bonus, or the potential to earn a little more if they perform well. Failure to pay more for more work can seem prohibitively unfair to employees.
Of course, employee engagement isn’t the only thing you need to keep track of—it’s never just one thing in the world of recruiting! Retention and turnover are also on every recruiter’s front burner. Turnover is your organization’s most debilitating disease. Retention—of the people you want to retain—is the backbone of your organization’s success. Gain an advantage with our guide, Employee Retention and Satisfaction: How to Attract, Retain, and Engage the Best Talent at Your Organization. Check it out now!
This second HR Playbook from BLR explores the many facets of retention and engagement, giving practical guidance, new approaches, and proven methods for achieving excellence in these challenging times.
Once you have top talent, be sure to retain them! It’s all in BLR®’s HR Playbook, Employee Retention and Satisfaction: How to Attract, Retain, and Engage the Best Talent at Your Organization. Learn more now.
Learn about the following crucial issues regarding retention and employee satisfaction:
- The high cost of undesirable turnover
- Recruiting and hiring for the long haul
- Management’s role in retention
- The value of strong mentoring
- Perks that employees truly value
- And much more!
When do you start thinking about retention? On day one. Start strategizing today with Employee Retention and Satisfaction: How to Attract, Retain, and Engage the Best Talent at Your Organization.