14 effective employee retention strategies
Having stable workforce overtime helps companies tackle long-term projects with greater guarantees of success. Employee retention should therefore be a planned urgency. Employee retention can mean a gain in competitiveness and productivity compared to companies with high levels of staff turnover.
In this article, you will learn about the most effective employee retention strategies for your business. Most companies usually do not think about improving their staff retention. However, it is very important for the success of their business to have the necessary knowledge and resources to not let their best employees go. Let us observe:
- What is employee retention?
- Why employee is retention so important?
- Employee retention myths
- How much does staff turnover cost?
- Employee retention strategies
- How can we help you obtain more information about employee retention?
1. What is employee retention?
Employee retention can be defined as the phenomenon by which an employee wants to stay with their current company. At the same time, staff retention is a business indicator that allows checking the degree of commitment of the workforce and the availability of human resources to face new challenges.
Sometimes, the retention of personnel is a fact that occurs completely naturally, thanks to a correct combination of incentives from the company and goodwill on the part of the employees to be contented and pleased in the unit.
Other times, it is mandatory to resort to employee retention strategies so that they feel more convinced to continue in the company. 41% of employees who resigned from their jobs last year did so because they were not satisfied, a higher percentage, for example, than those who did it to grow professionally or change activities.
2. Why is employee retention so important?
Having excellent human capital is not exactly an easy task, to the point that many companies have had to spend a lot of time and resources to build a particularly valuable workforce. Therefore, if staff retention is neglected, the company will have made a lousy investment and, predictably, will have to do it again to cover absences.
At an operative level, excessive worker turnover always converts into:
- Dysfunctions
- Communication deficit
- Lack of trust between employees
- Little or no alignment between workers and company values
- Less sense of obligation
As a result of all of the above, the company sees how its competitiveness suffers compared to those companies that have been able to have stable staff over time. All this without forgetting the need to convene and manage recurring processes of hiring personnel, with the challenges that this entails. And, in relation, it is increasingly present in companies that to ensure performance, every one of the phases that a professional goes through must be taken care of.
3. Employee retention myths
Too often, employee retention techniques are dismissed as leaving employees for reasons that companies can do little about.
- Better economic conditions: many companies simply assume that workers leave their jobs because they have received better offers.
- Bad management of pressure: another widespread feeling is that professionals who leave the company do so because they cannot withstand the pressure and it affects their mental health.
- Staff retention cannot be measured: the companies that are furthest behind in terms of digitizing the business consider that they do not have tools to measure the loyalty of their employees.
- Lack of criteria: thinking that the worker does not know what he wants is another way of not investigating the ultimate reasons for his departure.
- Errors in the chain of command: managers and supervisors can have a very large weight in the retention of personnel, but many aspects are beyond their control.
3.1 Signs of a worker who is about to leave the corporation
The delay in implementing employee retention strategies is also often explained by the inability to appreciate the evidence that part of the workforce is not satisfied. These are the most normal previous signs when an employee contemplates leaving the enterprise.
- Efficiency drop: workers are not machinery and their efficiency can experience ups and downs. Now, if it shows a clear downward trend, it may be indicating a lack of commitment.
- Poor collaboration and apathy: if the worker is not collaborative with the matters for which he is required and shows a certain indifference to his surroundings, his mind may be more outside than inside the company.
- Questioning of corporate objectives: this is a critical aspect because if the employee feels that the company’s objectives are not appropriate, the risk of leaving the company increases significantly.
- Absences and tardiness: when a professional who has not had discipline problems begins to accumulate tardiness and absences, he or she may be considering changing jobs.
- Low long-term commitment: if long-term strategies or projects are presented and some workers are unenthusiastic or even evasive, it could be due to their willingness to leave the company.
4. How much does staff turnover cost?
Having examined both the importance of employee retention and the signs that could alert us, it is worth quantifying what the economic impact of excessive workforce turnover could be. Fundamentally, we can differentiate three huge blocks of expenses:
- Recruiting and selecting: the start and management of a recruitment and selection process can take about 50 days for those responsible for the process and require the disbursement of AED 15.000 (the figures vary depending on the size of the company). However, recruitment and selection software can reduce costs and streamline procedures.
- Training: group preparation helps cover the purposes of coworkers who have left the corporation and may need a more or less important investment. It could mean around half a year’s salary.
- Adaptation: it is widely accepted that an employee’s productivity sweet spot is not reached until they have been with the company for a year.
However, do not make the mistake of demonizing staff turnover. On certain occasions, the departure of employees who were not offering the desired performance and the incorporation of profiles necessary for new challenges can result in an improvement in results.
5. Employee retention strategies
Many experts on the matter prefer to talk about loyalty to talent instead of retaining it. It would be something like receiving workers to want to be in the business without feeling enforced to do so. Whatever the elementary premise, businesses have many worker retention plans and techniques.
5.1 Hire the right profiles
Many times, employee problems start from the wrong approach during the recruitment process. That is why both the job interviews and the rest of the candidate evaluation techniques are aligned to the search for professional profiles that fit the dynamics of the company.
Recruitment and selection software helps eliminate bias during the hiring process and allows initial screening of candidates that are theoretically less compatible with the company.
5.2 Improvement of the work environment
Many employees begin to feel like leaving the company when their work environment does not please them or has noticeably deteriorated. Expecting this condition is indispensable to preventing workforces from wanting to leave. Thus, it is prudent to use worker study software.
This resource allows knowing the opinions of the workers, detecting aspects of improvement, and acting quickly when problems are visible that could worsen and thus facilitate the retention of truly talented personnel. It also has the advantage that, by using surveys regularly, we can check the evolution of employee opinion.
5.3 Incentive and recognition plans
Few employees tolerate that their effort goes seemingly unnoticed in the company. It is not that they want applause every time they complete a task. But they do like the company to recognize their work and their merits. Employee incentive and recognition plans are necessary to reinforce commitment.
But how to retain talented staff by duly valuing their results? A performance appraisal software offers simple solutions to measure the impact of the worker and record their performance. Also, recognize their efforts. In addition, it also allows you to offer feedback to help you improve.
5.4 Career plans
Having real options for an internal promotion is a powerful incentive for employee retention. If they feel that their energy and obligation could lead them to cultivate professionally within the corporation, they will have less wish to seek better environments in other enterprises. The training software can be very useful to train the worker to take on new responsibilities.
5.5 Family and work reconciliation
Labor flexibility is one of the incentives most valued by employees. Measures such as teleworking or greater facilities for organizing the working day make it easier for employees to reconcile family life. In this way, the risk of resignation is less if the main reason is the need to go to personal matters.
5.6 Active listening
One of the most useful workforce retention techniques is to keep multiple channels of communication open with staff. The frustrations of the employees often originate from the fact that they do not feel listened to by the managers or the management or from the feeling that their thoughts and difficulties do not interest any of their bosses.
The human resources portal enables a private space so that employees can manage different aspects of their situation in the company. At the same time, keep in permanent contact with those responsible for the teams.
5.7 Strengthen the corporate culture
The reason why companies are so attractive to young professionals is that they have an attractive company culture. The values of an organization are increasingly important. They can become the reason why a professional decides to join an institution.
5.8 Loyalty to collaborators
Many successful human resources managers share the philosophy that the employee is an internal customer. Therefore, it is important to build loyalty through training, remuneration, good treatment, etc.
5.9 Generate racing lines
Giving the personnel the chance to remain rising professionally in the enterprise is very significant. This is to prevent them from deciding to migrate to the competition. It is worth stating that inactivity is one of the details why many people choose to change jobs.
5.10 Recognize the achievements of collaborators
An association should not fail to identify the accomplishments of its employees, whether through financial recompense, credit programs, prizes, etc.
5.11 Build a good work environment
The work environment is a determining factor in achieving maximum worker satisfaction and performance.
5.12 Encourage leadership
Taking on leadership roles can help some people feel like an important part of the company. In addition, it is a way to train leaders who could take on executive positions in the future.
5.13 Create new challenges
Today’s professional loves challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to keep employees motivated by creating challenges that help them develop professionally.
5.14 Use feedback
Constructive criticism contributes to the development and evolution of a person’s skills.
6. How can we help you obtain more information about employee retention?
We are the finest alternative if you want to manage your employees and relocate to the Middle East. EOR Middle East provides the best contractor hire and other services for your business initiatives in countries like:
Our organization has extensive experience in the Middle Eastern market. Our agents have the knowledge and skills to assist you in any way you choose. EOR Middle East boasts a 98 percent success rate, over 800 pleased ratings, and the accolades that distinguish us as the Middle East’s leading consultant firm.
Our PEO firm is the most effective way to grow your company. We offer a custom-tailored suite of services to increase your productivity at a low cost. As well as an employer of record services to streamline processes.
Do you have an interest in obtaining the services of EOR Middle East? You can write us an email at [email protected] or call us at +971 43 316 688 if you need assistance with your immigration process. Any doubts you may have will be cleared by our professional agents.
You can submit your resume or CV to thetalentpoint.com if you are looking for a job. You can also send it to us by email at [email protected]. We guarantee that we will find you the ideal labor opportunity.
