With unemployment at a near all-time low, job seekers are finding an increasing number of opportunities and turning a candidate-driven job market to their advantage. And as employees are wooed away by the promise of more benefits and higher salaries, retaining talent can be hard. The good news is that investing in your team members in a genuine way can help you hold on to them and create a company culture that puts employees first. By doing so you can significantly minimize turnover. In fact, a recent study showed that 90% of millennials are looking to grow within their current companies provided they have the right development opportunities.
Here are some ways to focus on what employees really care about and find the best ways to meet their needs.
Make flexibility a top priority
Whether you’re a small startup or a global company, offering your team members increased flexibility can have a big impact on your company culture and employee satisfaction. In fact, according to a recent LinkedIn report, 72% of HR professionals believe that employer flexibility is important to the future of recruiting. A good way to go about making your organization more flexible is to survey your employees about what type of flexibility matters most to them — from working remotely to reduced hours or even additional PTO.
Once you have a clear idea of what your employees want, figure out what would work best for your organization. This may mean offering additional vacation days, allowing employees to work from home when needed or even adopting a shortened workweek. While it may not be possible to be flexible in every area of your business, offering your employees some added flexibility will help them to feel empowered and ensure that they have the work/life balance they need.
Focus on employee engagement
We often talk about candidate engagement, but employee engagement is just as important. In fact, according to Gallup’s 2017 “State of the Global Workplace” report, only 34% of U.S. workers say that they’re engaged when it comes to their jobs. And that can lead to significant turnover as employees look for better opportunities and more job satisfaction. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to boost engagement across your organization and make employees feel more valued. This includes offering employees the resources they need to be successful in their roles while also providing a clear path for growth within the company. A good way to go about this is to create a development plan for each employee that focuses on their specific goals within the organization. This can be a great way to show employees that you’re invested in their future with the company and offer them a clear path to advancement.
Encourage feedback across the organization
We all know that feedback is important, but did you know that lack of feedback can make or break your organization? According to a PWC survey, nearly 60% of employees surveyed said that they would like feedback on a daily or weekly basis, while Gallup reports that employees who receive positive feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than those who receive no feedback. To encourage feedback within your workplace, it’s important to ensure that you make it a two-way street. This means fostering a culture of open communication where managers provide their teams with constructive feedback while encouraging team members to do the same. In addition to opening up the lines of communication, this is also a great way to empower employees and allow them to have a voice in the way the company operates.
Like recruiting, employee retention comes down to treating your team members with respect and providing them with the necessary tools to feel fulfilled in their roles. By prioritizing flexibility, offering a clear path for advancement and making open communication a cornerstone of your company culture, you can boost employee retention and help your team members feel valued.
Want to improve employee retention even further? Learn how to preserve your company culture as you scale and how to implement a people analytics strategy without a big budget.
