How to Retain Staff: 6 Tips for Employee Retention
- November 14, 2022
How to retain staff: 6 tips for employee retention
The Great Resignation has been affecting employers since spring of 2021, when employees began quitting their jobs in record numbers. As a result, companies are having to “up the ante” when it comes to finding new ways to retain their staff.
We all know that a spate of resignations can have negative repercussions, such as a long and expensive recruitment process, and a loss of team morale, which can affect overall motivation and productivity.
In order to build a strong, successful business that is capable of growth, you should be looking at better ways to retain your employees. So, to make it easier for you, we’ve pulled together six expert tips for retaining staff.
1. Make sure you’re hiring the right people
It may be hard to hear this, but one of the reasons you might be regularly losing staff is because you’re hiring the wrong people. If you’re failing to onboard the right people, they probably won’t be happy and satisfied in their role. And ultimately, they aren’t likely to stick around for long.
One way to prevent this is to review your hiring process. What interview procedures and tactics are you using? Are they helping you find candidates with the same values as the company? Is the process doing enough to understand if their skills align with what you want from the role? And, are you correctly defining the jobs you advertise?
The recruitment process is tricky to get right. So, if you need support take a look at our recruitment tips or just get in contact with us today for additional support from our expert recruiters.
2. Create an effective onboarding process
What does your onboarding process currently look like? If you want new employees to stick around, you need to set them up for success from the get go! Creating a proper onboarding process is a great way to get them excited for their journey with the business to begin.
An effective onboarding process should include (at the very least) team introductions, an induction to company values and culture, a roadmap to their development within the business, and an overview of their core responsibilities.
If you don’t currently have an official onboarding process in place, we’d strongly recommend spending some time putting one together.
3. Offer incentivising perks and benefits
In a time when retaining staff is increasingly difficult, company perks are a great way to set your workplace apart from the rest. It doesn’t have to be about offering sky-high salaries in order to retain the best talent. Sometimes it’s the little things that go a long way.
Not only do benefits help boost employee morale and retain staff, they’re also a great way to attract new talent. Look at what your company offers versus your competitors. What can you do to ensure you’re competitive? And, is there anything you can offer that other companies currently aren’t?
Company benefits can include, but are not limited to, providing free office snacks, team socials, flexible working hours, private healthcare, or maybe a free gym membership?
4. Offer lots of training opportunities
When employees aren’t learning and developing, they tend to feel stuck and may end up looking for new job opportunities. So, make sure you’re taking the time to identify areas for professional growth. Upskilling your employees will not only boost their motivation, but can also be very beneficial for the business.
Consider the following things to support your employees growth:
- Provide them with time to attend virtual conferences
- Pay for training courses
- Run internal training sessions
5. Ensure you’re providing a happy work-life balance
Since the pandemic, work-life balance has become increasingly important for employees. It’s now essential for employers to not only support work-life balance but to encourage it in order to ensure job satisfaction.
So, how can you support your team?
- Encourage employees to set boundaries
- Help them to manage their workload
- Ensure they take all of the annual leave allowance
- When late nights are necessary to wrap up a project, consider giving them extra time off to compensate.
6. Pay your employees fairly
In order to be a desirable employer in a competitive industry, you need to make sure you’re paying your staff fairly. Again, this doesn’t mean you have to offer ridiculously inflated wages but at the very least, you should be offering pay inline with the industry standards. Of course the business needs to remain profitable, but if your budget allows you to stretch this a little further, it might be worth paying slightly more to prevent employees from getting a better offer elsewhere.
As an additional tip, keep on top of appraisals and pay. If you notice that an employee is helping to grow the company, then offer them a pay rise and/or promotion. Or, if they ask for a payrise, make sure you take it seriously. No one wants to feel undervalued at work.
Ultimately, when an employee decides to move on then there’s not much you can do to change their mind. But you can put things in place to ensure you’re creating a positive work environment that encourages job satisfaction, then you’re more likely to attract and retain the best talent.