10 Best Employee Retention Strategies to Keep Your Best Talents

by Srikant Chellappa Apr 11,2022
Engagedly
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The People Strategy Leaders Podcast

with Srikant Chellappa, CEO

How do you retain top talent in your company? Organizations are constantly searching for employee retention strategies to keep their employees in today’s competitive environment.

Employee retention is a challenge for every organization. The cost of replacing employees is high, and the benefits of retaining them are even higher. If you want to keep your best workers, you must take steps to ensure they stay happy and productive.

 An effective employee retention strategy is a critical competitive differentiator. It allows a business to retain its employees, which helps it operate at a higher level. Those who achieve high employee retention rates operate from a position of strength, both in meeting business goals and recruiting new employees.

Here are the Employee Retention Strategies that can Help You:

1. Provide an attractive compensation package

You must ensure a competitive and fair salary throughout the organization. Your job offer should include salary, bonus, stock options, health insurance, vacation time, etc. It would help if you made sure that these things align with what other people at your company earn. 

Factors such as development opportunities, compensation benefits, rewards and recognition, and work culture play a vital role in holding back your employees. If you provide an attractive compensation package, it will entice your best employees to stick around. They know they have plenty to gain by staying with your company. 

Also read: Continuous Feedback: What Is It And Its Benefits

2. Offer flexible work arrangements

When someone leaves a company, there is often a gap between off-boarding and joining the next job. It creates a no income period, though the person still has to spend on gas and food while looking for alternative employment.

To avoid this problem, you should have flexible work hours or working from home. These arrangements allow your employees to continue earning money during this transition period.

3. Recognize that retention starts with recruiting

Retention begins at the very beginning, from when you prepare the job description to when you choose who to interview. It starts by identifying which aspects of culture and strategy are important to you, then finding those qualities in your candidates.

The longer someone is with your company, the better they get at their job. You need to make sure everyone is fully engaged and partakes in the company‘s ongoing success,” says Dan Pickett, Former CEO, Nfrastructure. He followed this approach in his company and was successful in retaining above 97% of their employees, which is an impressive feat to achieve in the IT industry.  

4. Encourage communication.

If you wish to retain your top performers, you need to ‌enhance your communications process. The internal communication about employee growth and development between the employees and management is pivotal for any organization. It not only attracts the top talents but also provides higher job satisfaction to its existing employees.

Effective Communication not only creates a positive work environment by building trust and relationships but also induces the employees to perform better by minimizing the errors. As the employees are well-aware of changes being made within the company, they are more adaptive to these changes because of effective communication.

5. Identify the candidates who will stay long term

How can you select candidates who are most likely to stay? You can tell if they’re qualified by looking at their resume. First, look for employees who have been at their current job for a long time.

Try to look beyond their resume to understand if they will stay. Has the employee ever worked with companies for a longer term? If yes! It shows that the employee has an intention to work long-term and has a high loyalty score. Anyone who has changed 3-4 jobs in 5 years is less likely to stay with any company.  

It would help if you also looked for someone whose hobbies include playing team sports, volunteering, etc. These activities can indicate that they’re invested in a cause, team, or sport and that they’ve got the mindset to stick with things they care about.

6. Recognize their contribution

Employees who feel much appreciated are more likely to stay. According to the Society for Human Resource Management Survey, 68% of HR admitted that appreciation and recognition play a vital role in improving the retention rate for any organization. Yet, many organizations can implement successful retention programs. 

Companies should devise proven recognition programs and encourage the direct managers to recognize their  subordinates’ efforts.. This makes the employees feel valued at different levels. 

7. Help employees to maintain work-life balance

Erratic work schedules and hectic life are common among the people working with private organizations. The flexible schedule and remote work help the employees achieve work-life balance. But, if the employees are overworked and assigned targets that are not achievable, it impacts them adversely. 

The managers must check that only that much work should be assigned that the employees can handle efficiently for the specific time slot. Tasks such as unnecessary meetings and other administrative duties which are counter productive should be cut down drastically. 

8. Improve organizational culture

Do you know that organizational culture is one of the key factors in retaining employees? Strong corporate culture plays a vital role in attracting new talents and keeping existing ones. 

If you want to keep your best talent, you must create a positive work environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas, suggestions, and feedback. This way, you’ll get better results from your employees. To achieve a strong corporate culture, the organization should:

  • Have firm commitments to diversity and equity
  • Understanding and supportive leadership.
  • Value the employee’s voice
  • Carry out the clearly articulated values 

9. Flexibility to employees

No one wants to work in an organization with rigid policies. Employees look for flexibility to accommodate their emergencies and other responsibilities in life, such as medical needs, family time, and other miscellaneous tasks. Organizations that give flexible work schedules or the options like compressed workweek deliver higher job satisfaction for employees. 

It is considered an important employee retention strategy that encourages the employees to stay longer with their existing organization.

10. Creating Growth Pathways.

The lack of opportunities often gives employees ample reason to change their current job. Every employee looks for upward mobility in their existing companies. Due to the lack of such opportunities, employees are likely to look outside the organization. With dedicated career pathing, an organization increases employee engagement and assures them that their future is secure, with ample growth opportunities in their existing organization. 

Also read: 4 Creative Team Building Activities

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

1. What is the difference between “Employee Engagement” and “Employee Retention”?

Engagement refers to the level of interest and involvement that an individual has in their job. It means how an employee feels connected to their employer and colleagues. On the contrary, retention refers to the length of service of an employee within an organization. It indicates how long an employee stays with the company after getting hired. Employee Engagement attributes to Employee Retention. 

2. Why do we need to focus on Employee Retention?

Employee retention is essential for any business because if they lose their valuable employees, they will have to spend more money on hiring and training new employees. Also, when there is no employee retention strategy implemented by the organization, they might face problems in achieving their goals.

3. What are some of the most common reasons for Employee Attrition?

  • Pay issues – When employees don’t receive fair compensation for what they do, it can be very difficult to stick around. In a survey of 900 employees, over 35% of the employees admitted they would quit their jobs if they don’t get a raise in their salary.
  • Workload – Too much work without enough resources can lead to burnout and eventually quitting.
  • Lack of recognition – No matter how hard you try, sometimes you won’t succeed at everything you set out to accomplish. Organizations that do not recognize their employees have a higher turnover, up to 31%

Conclusion 

Many factors determine whether someone leaves their job or not. For any organization, employees are the assets. Hence, no organization can afford to lose the best of its talents. But if your organization doesn’t implement any employee retention strategy, you’ll probably lose your best talents.

 


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Author
Srikant Chellappa
CEO & Co-Founder of Engagedly

Srikant Chellappa is the Co-Founder and CEO at Engagedly and is a passionate entrepreneur and people leader. He is an author, producer/director of 6 feature films, a music album with his band Manchester Underground, and is the host of The People Strategy Leaders Podcast. He is currently working on his next book, Ikigai at the Workplace, which is slated for release in the fall of 2024.

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