When you find that superstar employee, you want to hold onto them as long as you can. Unfortunately, though, sometimes these employees leave. There are various reasons why an employee might say goodbye, but luckily, many of them can be preventable. With hiring costs being so expensive, it’s essential to be proactive and take preventative steps to reduce your turnover rate.
Let’s take a look at 7 tips for employee retention:
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The recruitment stage
The recruitment stage is where it all begins. From job postings to applications and interviews, these all help set the tone for company culture. Having a strong company culture and identity will help you attract compatible employees who hopefully will stay around for the long game. As tiresome as recruiting is, hiring mistakes can be costly, and the hiring manager must be someone who can best reflect the company.
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Have a strong management team
To have happy and productive employees, you need a solid senior or management team. These are your company’s leaders, and it’s vital they set a good example and act as a guide for your workforce. Having regular team building workshops or attending conferences all contribute to a healthy and productive senior team which will trickle down to the rest of the workforce. If your management team isn’t as cohesive as it could be, your other employees are probably bearing the weight of it.
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Clear and consistent expectations
One of the reasons people have for leaving a job is a lack of clarity and disorganization. Working in an environment where you don’t know up from down is stressful. Although specific industries like the technology sector can be very fast-paced, employees should at least have a clear understanding of their day-to-day expectations.
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Ask for feedback
Gather employee feedback before it’s too late. An effective strategy to reduce your turnover rate can be as simple as sending out regular surveys or questionnaires. These can be sent out anytime, whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or annually, whatever works best for your workforce. These surveys should be quick and easy to complete. Let’s be honest, with life being so busy, who wants to spend more than 5 minutes filling out a survey. Your surveys can address a variety of topics, or you can even provide a broad question such as “how can we create a better work environment.” Keep in mind that as much as you want to appease everyone, not every concern or issue can be solved.
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Provide means for advancement
Regularly practice promoting from within. While external hires aren’t avoidable, there should always be an internal job board. People want to grow, and if they feel they have come to a plateau, they will find somewhere else. Promoting internally gives those employees who strive to grow their careers the incentive to stay.
Means for advancement can also be in the form of professional development programs. Whether your company has their own programs or fund for employees to pursue further education, this is an excellent strategy for retention. Education is expensive and time-consuming. Professional development programs can give the means to employees who otherwise wouldn’t have furthered their education.
This strategy will not only retain employees but create a strong and empowered workforce.
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Benefits and perks at the workplace
Another reason an employee might leave is due to better benefits packages elsewhere. This is a topic that can be presented in your feedback questionnaires. Depending on the demographic of your employees, certain perks or benefits will be favoured over others. If parents of young children make up your workforce, childcare is probably a priority for them. This tip probably comes with the highest cost. Not all companies have the budget to add to or rework their benefits package, but there are other perks that won’t break the bank. For example, giving more flexible work options can give your employees a better work-life balance, creating happier and more productive employees.
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Be prepared for turnover
Ultimately turnover is inevitable. It hurts to see good employees go, but it’s also not healthy to hold onto employees who aren’t happy. Even the most proactive employers are bound to face turnover. And when an employee does give their last farewell, an exit interview or survey is a great opportunity to get feedback.
About Live Assets | IT Staffing Solutions
Live Assets is a boutique IT Staffing/Recruiting firm specializing exclusively in building IT teams of excellence for the Information Technology sector.
We are a small, but productive team that works closely together and has had a 96% success rate for the past number of years!
We have a diverse number of clients and industries and focus on both full-time and contract I.T. opportunities.
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