Losing good employees costs businesses money. Not only can it affect employee morale, but also employee productivity as other employees will have to pick up the workload left by the previous employee.
In the age of The Great Resignation, it’s more important than ever that business leaders prioritise employee retention as part of their business strategy. You need to make sure that you give your employees good reasons why they should continue working for you.
From providing remote work options to increasing the average salary for employees, they can play a key role in whether employees stay or leave. If you don’t prioritise an employee retention strategy, then good employees will inevitably leave your company.
This piece includes some top tips for how to keep good employees from leaving you for your competitors.
Allow open discussion with your employees
Having an open discussion with your employees is one of the first things that you should do as an employer when trying to improve employee retention. Creating an environment of open communication and collaboration is a great place to start as it ensures every employee is valued within your company.
Making company information more accessible, such as company successes and weekly feedback meetings can help motivate employees to become better workers. Even sharing information around where the company direction is going, as well as failures enables you as an employer to create an honest working environment for everyone.
By regularly sharing information with your employees, they will feel less isolated and they will see themselves as an integral part of your business.
Reward your high-performing employees
High-performing employees often leave their employers because they are underappreciated. Rather than providing short-term cash rewards, there are better ways that you can reward your talented employees.
Flexible working schedules, paying for training courses to help with their career development and providing free lunches are a few ways you can reward them. By providing opportunities to reward top talent, it makes it easier for them to continue working for you.
While rewarding your high-performing employees can be costly, the benefits may outweigh the costs of potentially losing precious talent.
Provide a good work/life balance
Having a good work/life balance is essential for keeping good employees from leaving. Employees outside of work may have hobbies that they’re passionate about or they want to spend time with their families.
Providing opportunities for employees to balance both their personal and working lives can have a positive impact on employee morale. As an employer, you and your executive team should lead by example when it comes to creating a work/life balance culture within your company.
You should make sure that you and your executives take time for breaks, as well as leaving the office on time and not emailing workers outside of work hours. When you lead by example, it encourages employees to make sure that they have a balance between work and life too.
Offer training and development opportunities
Upskilling is essential for having a skilled workforce. As an employer, you should offer training and development opportunities to help your employees plug any skills or knowledge gaps that they may have.
Paying for employees’ courses, as well as conference fees are just a few things that you can do to help your workforce become more skilled and productive. When you invest in employees’ training and development, they’ll have clear, long-term career paths of how they’ll progress within your company.
Deliver a good onboarding process for newly-hired employees
You’ve hired a new employee into your company, but they’ve suddenly left after a few months? This could be because you either have a poor onboarding process or have no onboard process at all. This can not only lead to a higher employer turnover rate, but it can also affect productivity levels too.
Having a good onboarding process for newly-hired employees will ensure that they are motivated from the get-go. When the new employee understands their roles and responsibilities, as well as the company culture, they’ll be able to fit in better with their fellow employees.
It’s important that your company has a good onboarding process so that your new employee feels comfortable and supported in their role from day one.
Attracting the best talent to your business through ICAEW
Keeping good employees is integral for reducing employee turnover as it means that they are more likely to continue working for you. By utilising the tips we’ve outlined in this piece, it’ll ensure that your top-performing employees don’t leave, while improving employee productivity.
When it comes to attracting and keeping the best talent to your organisation, ICAEW will help ensure that your top employees don’t leave for your competitors. If you are taking on an apprentice, then we have an employer responsibilities guide to ensure that you provide full training and support for them on their apprenticeship.