10 Ways to Improve Employee Retention

Most of the organizations wait for an employee exit interview to understand the reason behind them leaving. At this stage, it becomes very difficult to retain the employee because they already have a job offer in hand and have made up their mind to switch.

Instead, the correct route would be to start employee retention at the right time and reduce employee churn.

We have prepared a small guide for employee retention. Read more to understand how.

1. Use Purpose, Autonomy, and Mastery

Here’s the clear definition of these three terms:

• The Gen Y population wants to be a part of the bigger purpose. For example, you have a mobile application that delivers food, then your millennial population wants to be a part of the improvement, ideation, innovation. You can create this sense of objective and goal by clear and transparent communication
• They want autonomy or ownership of small decisions. Being micromanaged by the boss is not attractive.
• Lastly, feedback is not frowned upon anymore. If an employee does something wrong, they want to know how to better themselves If they have done something right, tell them how great it was.

2. Improve Collaboration

Collaboration is necessary. You can’t run a team without interpersonal and cross-departmental collaboration in various teams. It is highly unlikely to move past glitches without such collaboration. This is because it helps employees engage with each other, which improves trust between them. This leads to better teamwork and work satisfaction which could enhance retention possibilities.

3. Recognize and Reward Your Employees

Always, and we mean always, recognize your A-performers. You don’t have to get them great gifts or offer incentives. Just tell them, “Hey Tom, you did a great job yesterday.” Who wouldn’t you love such recognition?

Being appreciated makes the employee feel that they are contributing to the bigger purpose and vision.

4. Invest More Time in Team-Building

If your team is disoriented or distorted, it won’t be possible to improve engagement. Lack of engagement makes workplace dull.

Thus, carry out activities to improve team building. Some good team building activities include organising informal social events, organising regular brainstorming sessions, clarifying roles, building a good work culture without micro management, and so on.

5. Hire the right people

Did you know that retention starts at the time of hiring? If you hire right, your retention is better. Here’s how: Every workplace has a set culture. This means that every employee that is already in the workplace is okay with the environment and they are a part of that environment.

When you hire a new employee, this person needs to adjust to the existing work method. If the employee is not okay with this structure, they will not adjust. For example, if an employee is used to having Saturdays off, you can’t expect them to work on Saturday. If you have working Saturdays, you will see this employee cribbing about work every Saturday. So, either ask them about their flexibility or move to the next right candidate.

6. Offer Training to Employees

Continuous learning and development is the key to every great workplace. No millennial is willing to join an organization which lacks growth and training.

This does not necessarily mean a lot of cost. You can Empower employees through online training, videos, etc. You can even make a YouTube playlist of existing videos and send it to your employees.

7. Be a Mentor to Your Employees

Always be a mentor to your employees. Sometimes, your employees may need expert guidance on not only work matters but also interpersonal matters. For example, if an employee is willing to assume a managerial position in the future, you can nurture and help them accordingly, guiding them and offering tips.

This activity can also improve employees’ trust in you and your brand, which leads to higher retention.

8. Offer Flexible Working Environment

We cannot stress this more. If you expect employees to stay back in the office when there is work, allow them to leave early on days when the workload is relatively lighter.. This ensures that your employees do not burn-out and in return will tend to be highly productive during regular work hours..

9. Be Transparent in Functioning

Always maintain a transparent environment in the office. If you are developing a new policy, call in your employees for suggestions. Allow them to voice their opinion.

Another way of being transparent is being true to your employees. If you are unable to dispatch salaries on time, call in your team and explain to them why.

10. Reduce Repetitive Tasks of The Workplace

Repetitive tasks are boring and reduce productivity. Hence, you need to reduce the manual work which can severely hamper the productivity of employees, leading to low retention. Utilize technology to automate these tasks.

Final Word

Retention is about small tasks. A sentence of appreciation can go a long way.

Adopt the above methods and try to retain as many employees as you can rather than hiring employees every month as backfill. It will not only decrease the costs of hiring but also increase the morale of your existing employees.