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Employee retention is top of mind for many employers and maybe it is for you, too.
This is because employee turnover can really cost your company, and we don’t just mean in terms of the Benjamins. Although, it was reported that turnover costs employers a whopping $15,000 per employee. In addition, there are massive ramifications that the whole company and workforce feel when your top star leaves the team.
If you’re a small business, you most likely are faced with limited resources so retaining your best and brightest is vital to your business success. Therefore, with efficient and effective employee retention strategies in place, you help to improve office morale and productivity and ensure that your best workers don’t leave you for the competition. And if you think employee retention strategies can hurt your back pocket, that’s where you’re wrong. We highlight five easy and cost-friendly employee retention strategies below.
5 Tips for Better Employee Retention in 2020
1. Communicate with your employees
Looking at our first tip, you might think communication is irrelevant. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. With open, healthy and transparent communication, employee retention is easy. How? Encouraging questions, addressing concerns, listening and providing feedback and carrying out suggestions are key factors for effective leadership – plus, they’re necessities for top performance and employee retention.
Experts explain that “an emphasis on communication equips employees to feel valued, satisfied and motivated which enhances their morale and increases their output.”
Our favorite tool to communicate with your employees is Connecteam’s free employee communication app. In the click of a button, you create a two-way communication channel. Managers can send private or group chats and updates: sharing weekly goals, celebrating the employee of the month, birthday wishes, company announcements, policy changes and more. Additionally, employees have a tool to communicate with you in real-time if they have issues, want to send ideas via the suggestion box, can offer feedback through surveys, and so on.
2. Hire right from the get-go
According to Glassdoor, 35% of employers who hire new employees anticipate that more employees will quit sometime in the year. If your hiring strategy includes expecting one-third of your employees to walk out the door, something isn’t working!
To begin, revamp your interview process. Ask questions that help bring out the good hires – behavioral questions about past behavior, decisions or performance that is relevant to the tasks you’re hiring for is necessary and ensure that you ask these questions consistently across all candidates.
Next, ensure that the job description is crystal clear. Many new hires reported that they’d stay at a job and company longer if they knew more about their job role early on. It’s essential that you don’t omit details of the position just because you desperately want to fill the position. Remain transparent to ensure the right employee joins your company and stays for the long-term.
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3. On-boarding is crucial
The second a new hire shows up to start their first day, make sure they’re set up for success! Don’t just focus on their job role and responsibilities, also teach them about the company culture, training opportunities, mission and values, and so on. HR experts say, “Onboarding new hires at an organization should be a strategic process and last at least one year to ensure high retention.” You can also make this process much more streamlined and efficient by using a recruitment and onboarding software that can do the heavy lifting for you.
Lay out clear goals for the new hire starting from the first day until the end of their first year. Check in frequently to ensure there is no confusion and offer help when necessary, assigning a veteran mentor can make this an even easier process.
4. Ask for feedback
Most managers overlook how powerful and important feedback is. And we don’t just mean you providing feedback to the employee. We also mean allowing the employee to easily provide feedback of their own. Get into the habit of encouraging and listen to what your employees have to say, you might just be surprised.
And don’t just wait for the annual review. Send weekly or monthly feedback surveys on a whole array of topics – from a new office design to a new product to revamping the marketing strategy or who is their choice of employee of the month and so on. Your employees deserve a platform to share their thoughts, opinions and ideas – a communication app, like we mentioned, makes this possible in just the click of a button.
5. Give recognition
It doesn’t matter if you acknowledge individual or team success, make sure you’re doing it. All milestones should be celebrated! For example, an employee setting a new record (customers won, sales, revenue, etc.), landing a huge sale, surpassing the KPIs, or even if it’s something personal like getting married or having a baby. Take the opportunity to celebrate as a company, depending on the milestone, the following are appropriate starting points:
- Give verbal praise: Don’t just say, “Thanks, great work!” While that can be great in a public setting to boost employee morale, being specific in your praise can go a long way. For example, “Amazing work handling that customer the other day who was upset about the poor packaging of the product! We now have a system in place that double checks all packaging is up to scale. Nice work, Rob!”
- Give written praise: Sending an email is nice and all, but sending a company-wide email is even better. Celebrating success across the board influences your entire team to work hard to experience the same recognition from their peers and senior management.
- Throw a company party: When a massive success occurs, either individual or as a team, an event or party is best. For example, massive achievements call for a huge party with a DJ with the family and friends of each employee. Smaller achievements can be celebrated with lunch on the company.
Boost employee retention today…
The employee retention strategies we highlighted above are not difficult to implement and they don’t cost a fortune either. By remaining smart in your execution, you save on general business costs and employee turnover costs. That’s definitely a win-win. Regularly stay on top of employee retention strategies to make sure your strategies are effective.
