Any good business values its staff members and recognises the importance of keeping those employees who contribute significantly to the success of the company.
Keeping staff turnover low is essential for staff morale and your organisation’s reputation.
Ignoring high staff turnover could be costly to your business. Some of the most common reasons people give for leaving a job are:
Recruitment agencies can be costly – not to mention the time needed to find and interview new staff can use up valuable sales and production time.
By the time you have trained these staff, the cost is still soaring.
However, by keeping your staff, this will reduce the amount you will have to spend on recruitment which you can, in turn, reinvest in your business brand or staff training.
The long an employee stays with you, the more experience they will gain which will help in your specific approach to business, and they will have the knowledge and the experience to promote and further the brand.
More experienced employees will also be able to train and mentor other employees, meaning that not only will they be achieving good results, but they will also be helping others to do the same.
Experienced and longstanding employees are inevitably more loyal than newer employees, as they will have developed good working relationships with fellow employees and managers, meaning that they are more invested in the business.
The happier your staff are, reflects in the workplace, creating a more productive and positive environment.
A positive workplace also creates a culture of support and encouragement where employees help each other to succeed, meaning that they will want to stay in your organisation.
Many employers are now implementing staff retention strategies to reduce employee turnover.
An emphasis is being placed on the relationship between managers and their employees, and how this can be improved.
Some firms are using exit interviews to gauge why staff are leaving, and in turn, using the feedback, they receive to implement changes to reduce turnover and retain staff.
However, with exit interviews, you must be cautious of the fact that employees will want a good reference and therefore may fabricate or not give the most honest answers when asked why they are leaving.
There is no one single best strategy to adopt when trying to improve staff retention, rather a mixture of methods is probably necessary to obtain the best results. Some ways of improving retention may include:
Incentives work for employees because they provide an additional reward for doing their best, and makes them feel appreciated and a valued part of the business.
They can also increase employee engagement and productivity, as the reward will make staff work even harder, not just for the company but for themselves.
Reward and recognition planes are now very easy to set up and manage without a large cost. This means that they are more accessible for staff to use, meaning that they are much more likely to engage in the process.
Choosing and adopting the best strategies for staff retention may not always be easy, but once implemented correctly, will greatly benefit an organisation.