Employee Retention refers to the techniques employed by management to help the employees stay with the organization for a longer period of time. Employee retention strategies go a long way in motivating the employees so that they stick to the organization for the maximum time and continue to be engaged. Efforts must be taken to ensure growth and learning for employees in their current role and for them to enjoy their work.
Employee retention has become a major concern for many businesses. As individuals being trained often have the tendency to move to other organizations for better prospects. Lucrative salary, comfortable timings, office culture and growth prospects are some of the key factors which prompt an employee to look for a change.
Whenever a talented employee expresses his willingness to move on, it is the responsibility of both management and the human resource team to find out the exact reasons leading to the decision.
It’s essential to learn more about the reasons why people resign. The reasons might simply be more attractive jobs elsewhere or chances for a lifestyle change, in which case it might be out of your hands to retain these employees.
However, many people leave their jobs because they are dissatisfied with their current employment situation.
Main reasons people leave a job:
- Poor salary and benefits.
- A lack of training and development opportunities.
- Lack of work/life balance.
- Dissatisfaction with management.
- The commute to work.
- Not getting along with colleagues.
Methods used to find out why staff are leaving:
- Exit interviews.
- Confidential attitude surveys.
- Questionnaires sent to former employees after their departure.
However, while companies do conduct ‘exit’ interviews to try and ascertain the reasons behind a departure, because employees need to obtain a decent reference, people often tone down or completely fabricate their reasons for leaving.
Ways to improve staff retention
By using a mixture of the below methods, you should see an improvement in staff retention rate.
- Ensure those being recruited have a realistic idea of what the job entails.
- Improved career development opportunities.
- Effective appraisals / performance management in place.
- A good work/life balance.
- Strong diversity policies.
- A mechanism for staff to register dissatisfaction, whether it be appraisals, grievance proceeding and so on.
- Leadership training for managers.
As a manager, it is vital to frequently reinforce the importance of your employees’ roles to the organisation as a whole. This can be done by showing direct connection between their activities and company success. Not forgetting that even the smallest tasks can contribute. Develop a work culture that encourages diversity and creativity and put in place effective anti-discrimination policies that promote flexible working, where possible.
By adopting a strategy for staff retention is not always easy, but it will greatly benefit your organisation.
If you would like to find out more on how Ward Williams HR can help with employee retention. Please feel free to email sally.phillips@wardwilliams.co.uk or give us a call on 01932 830664.