Employee Retention
The mystery behind keeping employee retention high has been cracked! While employees do appreciate a pay raise, it has been proven that there are other factors at play that can be even more detrimental to an employee’s decision to stay or leave your company. Deeper layers exist and need to be acknowledged to fully understand what really makes employees happy with their workplace. This infographic paints an excellent picture of a few of the key factors that lead to happy employees. Matching our clients to candidates is only part of the journey. Help keep your new employees happy and maintain a high employee retention rate by keeping the following factors in mind!
Why Employees Stay Where They Are:
Fair Pay and Benefits
Being paid fairly and provided with benefits is the most obvious factor leading to higher employee retention. Unfair compensation will quickly lead to employees feeling unhappy and may cause employees to consider other job opportunities that could compensate them more fairly for their work/experience. Check to make sure all of your employees are being fairly compensated for their work efforts and act quickly when a great employee expresses that they aren’t happy with their compensation before it’s too late.
Flexible Work-Life Balance
Having a good work-life balance is another common item that job seekers and employees want from their jobs. Being able to have a life outside of work and having a flexible work schedule to reflect the unpredictability of life is what more and more employees desire from their jobs. Try to be flexible with employees, let them know what is required of them but still be willing to work with them occasionally to help make their lives easier while working for your company. Your employees will be less likely to leave and feel happier when they feel they can have the ability to have a healthy balance between work and their outside lives.
Challenging Tasks
Allowing employees to feel a little challenge in their role will help employees stay engaged at work. Having repetitive workdays can lead to boredom and hurt an employees’ everyday work performance. Eventually, the employee may search for a different job that makes the time pass faster and lead to a feeling of accomplishment. Offer employees that have potential various tasks that will get them immersed in their work and exercise their knowledge and skills. Yet, be sure that the tasks you assign your employees relate to their position and field of expertise to avoid frustrating the employee.
Opportunities To Advance
Offering promotions provides employees reason to put in additional effort and increase precision in their work. The likelihood to leave increases when an employee feels “stuck” in their position and that they will never be able to move up. Giving out occasional promotions to hard-working and deserving employees will make them feel valued and important to how the company operates. Seeing coworkers earn promotions can also trigger motivation in other employees to step up their own work game and increase their own productivity.
Employee Engagement
Employees benefit from both increased involvement at work and having clear communication with their management. Having weekly meetings, creating groups that can collaborate on tasks together, or even volunteering to mentor employees helps raise their involvement and attachment with their coworkers and company. Don’t stand in the background or make employees feel isolated at work. Employees who are involved with others at the workplace form a greater bond with their company and will be less likely to leave. Employers who engage with their employees and help lead them to success find that the employees stay longer than employees with who they don’t interact with.
Appreciation and Recognition
This level of employee retention is often overlooked by employers. Let your employees know you appreciate the work they do for your company! Feeling underappreciated in the workplace is one of the top reasons why employees leave their jobs. Lack of appreciation and being overlooked or ignored is a major reason that we have heard job seekers quit their past jobs to pursue new careers. Recognize when an employee finishes a big project or does something extraordinary! Reiterate that you appreciate the work they do for your company and continue to make them feel like they matter to the company.
Positive Work Environment
Providing a positive work environment is key to getting your employees to look forward to going to work. Companies with a static work environment that makes employees dread going to work or forming connections are going to damage both the work employees do for the company and the bond that they have with the company. Hostile work environments can quickly trigger employees to start the job hunt. Cultivate a culture that is welcoming, friendly, and has great communication to make employees want to stay longer.
Trust
Let your employees know that you trust them and the work they contribute to your company. Giving trust to an employee reinforces confidence in themselves and their skills. Employees don’t like feeling that their managers are never satisfied with their work. Take a step back and let employees do their own work if they are already contributing exceptional work. There’s no need to hover over employees who have proven that they can produce quality work on their own. Likewise, you should also create a trusting environment within your company so employees can openly turn to you or other management when they have conflicts or even when they are considering leaving your company. Employees really open up and become more transparent about their intentions when you put trust in them and your company.
Employees will often reevaluate their future within a company if they feel undervalued or treated unfairly. Help create an environment that your employees love and want to be part of for many years to come. Follow these tips we give our clients to keep newly placed employees content with their new jobs.
Further reading:
How Roche Diagnostics Improved Employee Retention During the Pandemic
Review six high-impact ways that one company increased loyalty when they needed it most.
About the Author:
This article is written by Kristy Fitch, Recruiter at Automationtechies.
