The growth of an organization depends heavily on its employees. However, the real challenge lies in keeping the employees motivated to stay on board and add value to your organization. Most organizations around the world are struggling with employee turnover and attrition. A survey by CareerBuilder reports that 61% of employees face burnout in their jobs.
A significant chunk of HR leaders worldwide believes that retention improvement is a critical task for the next five years. While it may seem that a vast pool of aspirants is waiting to be employed, it means a significant expenditure for businesses. So, below we discuss simple yet effective ways to employee or workforce retention to foster a great organizational culture!
Facilitate Workplace Transparency
When you think of transparency, remember that it is not just about retention but about the work environment in general. Good organizational culture and employee motivation thrive on transparency. It is a great way to build a bond between the employer and the employee. When it concerns a piece of information, assess the pros and cons of making it accessible to the employees. If there isn’t a significant reason to keep it concealed, let it out.
Transparency doesn’t mean giving away business secrets, acquisition plans, or salary information but sharing enough to make the employees confident enough to trust you. Transparency will help the focus to shift from politics to performance. It will enable the employees to contribute to the business, and they will become more confident to work as a team. For most employees, transparency fares as the number one factor to determine workplace happiness.
Prioritize Communication
Like in all other relationships, communication holds paramount importance in the employer-employee relationship. When the employees have the confidence that their grievances and suggestions are heard, they invest themselves better towards the organization’s success.
According to Forbes, Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.
Open communication channels enable them to express themselves better, and this will shift focus from inter-employee gossip and dissatisfaction sharing. This will also enable the management to better understand their needs and offer an environment conducive to mutual growth.
Offer Attractive Remuneration
While this may seem quite obvious, this is also one of the trickiest aspects of dealing with employees. With ever-prevalent market competition and varied remuneration structures, employees often get carried away by offers they feel are better. Better than average salaries, along with additional benefits such as adequate insurance and medical covers, are what you need to offer.
Most business leaders and HR managers ignore that higher salaries are a lot more affordable than turnover costs. Based on a report by PeopleKeep, the cost of employee turnover is estimated to be between 16%-213% of an employee’s annual salary. This varies according to the wage and role of the employee.
Appreciate, Reward, & Recognize for Employee Retention
Employee morale depends significantly on how well their hard work is received. Sending simple appreciation mails or rewarding performance is a great way to keep them motivated. Just festive bonuses and gifts do not cut it. If they know that their performance will be recognized, they will put in more effort to perform better and stay longer.
In a survey by Achievers, 44% of 1700 respondents chose to switch jobs due to their employers’ lack of recognition and engagement. Recognition means lauding the positive behavior and efforts of the employees. This includes both personal traits and work-specific achievements.
Invest in Upskilling for Workforce Retention
Most high-performing employees are interested in upskilling. They would love to have the time and motivation to take up courses to help them rise on the career ladder. Investing in employee growth is a great way to let them know you care, use their skills to organizational benefit, and improve retention.
Do not be worried that they will use the newly acquired skills to find a new job. Instead, focus on their personal development that will help them stay more engaged and productive.
Retain Workforce with Work-Hour Flexibility
The more flexible your workplace policies are, the less suffocated your employees will feel. Flexible schedules, emphasis on work rather than clock hours, and remote working opportunities are great incentives that lead to retention. A report by OwlLabs indicates the meaningful impact of remote working capabilities on retention. It is a choice between seeing employees stuck to their chairs or employees delivering performance from anywhere. Many employees report better productivity when working from home due to lesser distractions. Apart from the turnover costs, this strategy also helps to keep other costs such as building and maintenance, facilities, electricity, refreshments, etc. significantly low.
Encourage Workplace Relationships
Team building is one of the powerful tools that will help you retain employees. Most employees stick to their jobs due to their colleagues. This calls for fostering a workplace culture that encourages friendships. Mutual respect and appreciation should form your organizational culture. This will help keep a tab on workplace politics, and employees will add to each other’s growth and not grievances. Toxic work culture will only be counterproductive to employee retention.
Challenges & Growth Prospects for Work Retention
Apart from investing in courses and programs, offer them the option to grow within the organization. Stagnation only demotivates them, and they look out for more challenging opportunities. This is even more common for employees with highly desirable skills. If they feel that their growth is stifled in the current setup, they will lookout.
Conclusion
If you want to prevent employee turnover from affecting your organization’s growth, make changes to your existing strategy that excludes any one of the above. We bet you’ll experience a dramatic improvement in your workforce retention. This will form the basis of strong company culture and pave the way for the organization to emerge as genuinely employee-friendly. Should you need to consult with our expert human resource professionals, contact us here.
