Employee retention is always important, but when hiring is difficult, it’s even more so in the spotlight. After all, when it’s tough to replace employees who leave, it’s critical that as few employees leave as possible.
Here are some employee retention tips for employers to consider:
- Invest in employee development. Employees need to see they have a future with the organization and that the employer is invested in keeping their skills updated.
- Show employees you trust them. Trust can go a long way toward building employee satisfaction and loyalty, thus improving retention. Read more here.
- Communicate well and often. It shows employees you’re being transparent.
- Have a professional and well-executed onboarding plan. This lets new employees know the employer is organized and has a vested interest in ensuring they get started on the right foot.
- Give employees the right tools to be effective in their roles. If employees don’t have the tools they need to do their jobs well, they may look for an employer that invests in their efficiency.
- Ensure all employees understand how their role impacts the organization’s goals.
- Consider having a mentoring program.
- Implement employee recognition programs, and take the time to recognize both large and small achievements. Build a culture that recognizes employees on a regular basis.
- Have teambuilding activities outside of the workplace to foster and improve working relationships.
- Provide frequent feedback to employees, and give them the chance to provide feedback to the employer, as well.
- Be consistent in how employees are treated and how policies are enforced. Ensure managers are not displaying favoritism or letting some individuals get away with problematic behavior.
- Show employees empathy so they know they’re truly valued. Read more here.
- Invest in employee physical and mental well-being.
- Ensure compensation and benefits are aligned with the market and with employee expectations. If you’re not sure, conduct market research to find out what the competition pays talent. Learn more about talent intelligence here.
- Create realistic goals. For more employee goal-setting tips, read more here.
- Encourage work/life balance (and mean it). Ensure your workplace policies and culture back this up. For more ways to do this, read more here.
- Evaluate retention figures, and create action plans to improve them.
- Conduct exit interviews to discover reasons employees are leaving. Read more here.
- Evaluate leaders’ performance, and ensure specific leaders aren’t driving people to leave.
- Assess employee engagement levels, and see where problem areas are. Read more about employee engagement surveys here.
- Find ways to monitor the general morale, and see if there are negative areas that can be worked on. Read more here.
- Ensure employees feel challenged.
- Ensure the company culture is aligned with the company values.
What else has your organization done to improve employee retention levels? What would you add to this list?