Four ways to boost employee retention

Retaining employees means more than just offering a competitive salary and a few benefits – here’s four ways you can enhance employee retention

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Business News Daily

Staffing and recruitment challenges fluctuate for companies of all types and sizes. Regardless of the state of the economy, employers should always be concerned about retention and turnover, as attracting and retaining talent involve significant costs in both time and money. Turnover also hurts productivity and results in the loss of institutional knowledge. 

To retain employees, businesses must do more than offer competitive salaries and benefits; they also must keep employees happy and engaged. Here are four strategies every business can use to boost employee retention, engagement and satisfaction. 

Keep employees engaged to improve retention

Boredom is one of the worst things for company morale and productivity. If an employee has a mundane job and no opportunities for advancement or excitement, they’ll become dissatisfied and more likely to leave the company.

“The key tenant of retention is making sure you have highly engaged employees day in and day out,” said Traci Fiatte, CEO of professional and commercial staffing at Randstad US. “Many organisations have very quick-and-easy weekly, biweekly or monthly employee surveys to gauge how employees are feeling.”

Employee surveys can be short and quick to complete; the idea is to spot issues and respond to them before they lead to engagement problems. 

Give employees clear growth opportunities to improve retention

To keep employees over the long haul, companies must provide ample growth opportunities and encourage professional development. Employers also must ensure employees are aware of these programmes. It’s crucial for employees to understand how they’ll grow, even in tumultuous times.

“You have to create new opportunities within the workplace to utilise employees’ other strengths,” said Angela Simpson, a retired HR knowledge advisor at the Society for Human Resource Management. “You have to make it interesting, so they aren’t looking elsewhere for development and growth opportunities.”

Make employees feel valued to boost retention

A company is only as good as its employees — and that means everyone in the organisation, not just those in the C suite. Showing employees that they matter boosts company morale and gives your team a sense of purpose.

“You have to make sure everyone in the organisation, no matter the job, understands how important their job is to the total,” Fiatte said.

If employees know the business can’t function without them, they’ll feel good about coming to work every day. Fiatte noted that it’s essential to connect someone’s job to the value it brings the organisation.

A free and easy way to help employees feel valued is to say thank you. As simple as it sounds, it’s not a given at many companies. “To me, that is the missing link,” Fiatte said. “You can never say thank you enough.”

Offer lifestyle-enhancement benefits to boost employee retention

Providing ‘lifestyle-enhancement benefits’ can be a powerful way to recruit and keep employees, said Moses Balian, an HR expert at Justworks.

“There are a lot of increasingly popular fringe benefits that have to deal with lifestyle,” Balian noted. Fitness, mental health and enhanced medical benefits are highly valued.

Balian suggested offering employees access to a gym membership, digital fitness classes, mental health apps, employee assistance programs and flexible work schedules to help keep workers happy and loyal.

How do you track employee retention?

You can have the best retention plan, but if it’s not resonating with employees, it will be a big waste of time. Tracking turnover is crucial to gauging your retention strategies’ success. Fiatte recommended tracking turnover monthly. “By doing that, you start to see trends, and you can plan for that turnover,” Fiatte said.

Here are some tips to consider when you’re tracking employee retention:

Understand typical turnover for your industry

Turnover rates vary widely depending on the industry and role. For example, businesses with many sales positions tend to have high turnover, while companies with more senior staff tend to have lower turnover. Therefore, when you’re benchmarking, it’s crucial to compare similar retention rates.

Conduct exit interviews

When you’re tracking employee retention, remember the power of exit interviews, which provide valuable insights to help reduce turnover. “You should ask [departing employees] why they’re leaving, if they took advantage of some of the fringe benefits, and if the health insurance was to their liking,” Balian advised.

Questions could also focus on management and the company culture. “It’s really important to sit down and think about the exit interview questionnaires,” Balian added.

Update your exit-interview questions

Examine your exit-interview process yearly to ensure you ask departing employees the right questions. For example, prior to the pandemic, you may have asked about commuter benefits. However, in 2020, access to additional health benefits may have mattered more to employees. And in 2023, freedom and flexibility are key.