If you wish for your business to be successful and grow, then having a committed workforce who are motivated and productive will be important. That’s why you should be constantly looking for ways to improve employee retention rates. This rate refers to keeping talented employees with you and reducing the amount of turnover you have.
Think about retention during the hiring process
One of the most effective ways to ensure that you have a committed workforce is to find the right employees during the hiring process. That means looking for workers who you can see potential in, who would want to move on up within the organisation. This could mean structuring new questions within the organisation so that you can get a better read from someone compared to the standard questions you’d use.
Be prepared for turnover
It is almost impossible for you to expect to have the same staff throughout your business’s lifecycle, which is why you should be prepared for turnover. If you manage to have plans for when people are leaving, then you will be able to have them replaced sooner rather than later.
Ensure you have a working culture that allows an employee to give you adequate time to hand in their notice, which allows you to find a suitable replacement in time. You should have plans on how you will replace this worker, where you could even have the outgoing employee train their replacement to make the transition easier.
Provide adequate training and education for your staff
If you are on top of training your staff, and educating them where possible, then you will help to better an employee. The last thing you want is to have stagnated employees, as that can kill motivation and productivity. If you manage to better the skills and education of employees, then they will feel more connected to the business and grateful for it.
Consider looking into online courses that you can enrol them in, on company time, so that they can learn without it impeding on their time. Otherwise, you could get someone who already works in your business to work with employees to teach them more business-specific skills that will help them more quickly.
Offer flexible working habits
Due to the changes brought around by COVID-19, we have seen the way employees work, and indeed the way they expect to work changed. One of the biggest changes that we’ve seen happen is in the form of flexible working. This can mean different things to different people and employers, for example, it could mean working partly at home throughout the working week, spending the odd day at the office when needed.
You will find that employees who have gotten used to working away from the office may not be pleased to see this perk taken away. If an employee can do work to the same expected standard at home compared to the office, then it is likely that they will prefer this.
That’s because they will save money on transport costs, getting to and from work. They will also be able to save money by not paying for any expensive lunches, instead of using their food. You should speak to your employees about flexible working, as forcefully telling them that they need to come back to the office could convince them to leave and look for new opportunities.
You will have other options too. There are businesses out there that work with organisations to help create a safe and flexible working environment. They will do this by offering desks to work out when out and about, when away from home or the office. This removes certain restrictions that could prevent employees from becoming overwhelmed by worrying about how they will work and when they will be able to meet a deadline.
You should look into these options as both an employer and an employee. Matrix Booking is one such organisation that offers this service. Their desk booking system makes it easier for employees to manage their workload by finding a desk on the go via a helpful app. You will find that employees who have the chance to work away from the office or home will be grateful to be able to crack on and get paid without any hassle, which could help them stay and boost your employee retention numbers.
Offer job benefits and perks
Whilst desk booking is a job benefit in its own right, you should be looking to implement other benefits and perks to help convince your employees to stay with you. This could come in several different ways, such as offering a bonus with each payslip if you reach a certain target. This target will depend on your actual business. For example, if you work in sales, it could be reaching a certain number of sales or customers to earn it.
You could also do something more prize-based, that will reward employees more regularly throughout their working time. This could be food-based, where they earn a treat such as a pizza or a cake once a week or month.
In terms of benefits, you could offer your employees a range of discounts they are welcome to due to their employment. It could be partnerships with local restaurants and shops to get deals for their workers, or you could work with a business that seeks discounts from major brands.
Some businesses ensure that their perks are on site. This could be with a gym room to let workers gain fitness at the workplace or even a range of games and amenities that are attractive to a worker.
Work on communication with your staff
If you wish to improve the levels of retention in the workplace, then you need to ensure that employees are perfectly happy to come into your place of work. If you have a lack of communication within the business, then it is likely that employees will feel uncomfortable and even bored within the business.
A lack of communication can also lead to a lack of productivity. This will be even more true for businesses that need to be working together on projects. Improving communication levels throughout the business can be a difficult task at first, but it will get easier once you get your employees on board with the idea.
You could get them on board by promoting team-building exercises, which are designed to help team members get closer so that they feel more comfortable working together. These exercises can also help promote general communication skills that employees could take into their working life. If employees feel more comfortable communicating with each other, then it’s likely that they will be happier to stay in their place of work.
Understand personal situations
If an employer is unsympathetic to the plights of their employees, then they will more than likely lose the trust and respect of these employees. That is why you should be communicating with your employees and helping them find solutions to any issues that they may have in their personal life.
People will inevitably need some extra considerations at some point at work regarding their personal life. If they don’t feel completely open to speaking to you about their issues, then you should just be understanding and show the trust that you’re there to help however you can, that you possibly could be.
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