Retaining your best employees is not a new problem facing businesses, but it remains a big challenge. In the past couple of years millions of employees have left their jobs in what has been called “the great resignation” resulting in vast labour shortages in multiple industries.
According to a recent survey by PwC, 1 in 5 employees said they are extremely or very likely to switch employers this year, and more than a third said they will ask for a pay rise.
Many have tried to find a reason for the mass exodus of workers, and some have blamed employee burnout from months of remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic, poor management, low salaries, or limited career advancements.
Ultimately, employees know their value and their self-confidence is encouraging them to push employers a little bit further than they perhaps would have previously, and they are voting with their feet if unsatisfied.
It can be inconvenient and very costly to lose employees, and disruptive to the business, as it can take considerable time to recruit and train replacement staff. It can also be demotivating for other employees, especially if several people leave in quick succession. As the well-known saying goes, it costs 10 times more to recruit a new employee than to retain an existing one.
We are going to dig into some of the ways you can retain the valuable employees you have spent years nurturing and training before they up sticks and take their skills elsewhere. They are a vital business asset and should be treated as such. If you have started to lose valuable workers, then it may be time to review your retention strategies now.
Offering a competitive wage that reflects an employee’s skills and work should be a number one priority for any business, and it should be reviewed and adapted in line with inflation and the increases in cost of living. If you are unsure what salary you should be offering, then research what competitors and other local employers are offering as a starting point.
A higher pay packet isn’t the only way to make employees feel valued, and in many cases, offering them training can make a significant difference if they can see the business is prepared to invest in them, and help grow the skills needed to take on more senior roles in the company.
Loneliness is a large contributor to workplace unhappiness which is why establishing friendships among staff is so important. In fact, 66% of workers claimed in a survey that having friends at work makes them happier in their job.
It is often said that an employee feels the most appreciated on their last day in a business, because everyone is telling them they will be missed and making speeches declaring how great they were and sharing their achievements. But consider the difference it would make if you showed your employees that level of appreciation all the time, not just on their last day?
Ask yourself this question; are you hiring the right people in the beginning? Employee retention starts with recruitment and it’s vital to make sure you get the right people into the right roles. When recruiting, look at the length of time candidates have stayed in previous jobs, as this can be a good indicator of whether they are in it for the long haul; if the candidate has had ten jobs in the past eight years it would suggest they might not be looking for longevity.
Now is a good time to review your onboarding process and the support offered to new employees when they start. Do you offer a mentor scheme, training, rotations around the business or do you just leave them to find their own feet? Microsoft introduced a buddy system for new recruits and found that on average new recruits met with their buddy at least eight times in their first 90 days of employment, and new starters felt more productive and settled as a result.
As we know, not all employees enjoy working from home, but research has found that 57% of UK employees said in a survey they would like to work from home part time or permanently. Why not consider a flexible approach to work and introduce a hybrid working so employees can pick and choose where they work. Encourage a healthy work-life balance within your organisation, and ensure all management engage with it too – lead example from the top.
Communication is the key to trust, and regular communication in the form of informal and formal catch ups will identify any small problems before they turn into big problems. Regularly communicating with employees and gathering feedback can be key to staying in tune with employee issues and can help you get to know your staff on a more personal level.
Making sure your staff have the appropriate equipment and tools to do their jobs successfully and safely can make a big difference to morale, as well as productivity. It goes without saying that staff need the correct safety equipment where necessary, but by also providing digital tools and software which can help them do their job easier and quicker will go a long way. Don’t be too tight when it comes to investing in new technology which could make your employees lives easier and their jobs more enjoyable.
A positive company culture not only attracts new recruits, but it also helps you to keep existing employees happy. A survey by Glassdoor found that 77% are driven by a company culture in deciding whether to take a potential job, and 66% of UK workers place culture above salary in terms of importance. A good company culture is one that’s inclusive, supportive, recognises achievements and respectful.
As an employer, it can be all too easy to blame an employee when they choose to leave your company for the grass being greener elsewhere, but we often need to look closer to home at the reasons employees are leaving. Ultimately, if everything was fine then nobody would be leaving so it is important to get to the root cause and review your employee retention strategy to keep your best employees within your business before it’s too late. This doesn’t always mean giving them extra money (but it does help!). Regular training, check-ins and creating a flexible, friendly company culture can go a long way in increasing staff morale and happiness.
For more information about how you can manage your staff and HR with Pegasus Software, get in touch today.
Posted On: March 30, 2023
