Effective Employee Retention Strategies To Reduce Turnover
By Lucy Reed
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Table of contents
Employee turnover can cost your business a lot of money. According to Honeybee, the cost of losing and replacing an employee can cost around 40% of their salary! This cost includes lost business revenue due to the disruption, unused vacation payout, as well as the cost of recruiting and training a new employee. On top of this, employee turnover can hurt workplace morale, create extra work for your other employees, and could mean losing talented workers to your direct competitors.
How can you avoid these costs and retain more employees? A professional retention strategist like Roy Barker can help you pinpoint problems in your retention process and implement strategies to reduce turnover. In this article, we’ll explore some other steps you can take to foster loyal, long-term employees.
Offer Flexible Work Options
According to ZenBusiness, millennial employees don’t want to spend all day working in an office. Many don’t relish the idea of a traditional 9 to 5 and tend to prefer a more balanced lifestyle.
Millennials are tech-savvy and want the freedom to work when, how, and where it’s most convenient for them. By giving your employees the option to work from home, set their own hours, or adjust their workflow according to their personal work style. They’ll feel much more in control of their work lives.
Give Your Employees Time for Passion Projects
Google, one of the most attractive employers in the world, encourages employees to spend 20% of their work hours on passion projects that they think will benefit the company. Consider letting your employees do the same!
Dial back the routine work your employees were hired to do and give them the opportunity to work on projects that excite them. This flexible work time can spur innovation and creativity, making your employees feel needed and connected to your company on a more personal level.
Support Employee Growth and Professional Development
Lack of growth opportunities is a common reason for employee turnover. Your workers need to feel like they’re advancing on a professional level or they’re going to feel unfulfilled and trapped.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to support employee professional development, even if you can’t afford to promote them. Lighthouse suggests offering lateral growth by switching up your employees’ roles and responsibilities. This gives each team member a chance to learn something new and keeps work feeling fresh and exciting. This can also lead to greater job satisfaction.
Besides offering novel learning opportunities, you can also provide ways for employees to advance their existing skills and career development. Help your employees connect with mentors who have more experience in their careers. Introduce them to a peer who is especially skilled in their area of interest. You may also send your employees to conferences where they can learn and network with others in their industry.
Go Beyond Basic Benefits
Offering benefits is a common employee perk and is an effective employee retention strategy. In order to attract top talent, try going beyond traditional benefits by providing unique perks that set you apart from your competitors. Take a holistic approach to employee benefits, aiming to address all areas of employee wellbeing, from physical health to emotional wellness. Here are just a few unique benefits you could provide to your employees:
1. Student loan repayment plans
2. Pet insurance
3. Childcare stipends
4. Financial literacy programs
5. Free car wash and detailing
6. Fitness classes
7. Mental health workshops
8. Subscriptions to wellness apps like MyFitnessPal and Headspace
Create an Inclusive and Positive Work Environment
Toxic work environments scare away the best workers and are a reason employees leave. Great employees are unwilling to put up with bullying, gossip, rumors, belittling remarks, sexism, passive-aggressive behavior, and poor communication in the workplace.
And since so many modern businesses pride themselves on creating employee-centered workplaces, these talented workers know they can find better treatment elsewhere. Employee engagement is key to discovering what employees really desire. If you spot toxic traits in your workplace, plan to shift your workplace culture towards inclusiveness!
Trust Your Employees
Do you trust your employees to do their best work when you’re not watching them? If not, you could be running into problems with micromanagement. Employees who don’t feel trusted experience lower morale and weaker performance compared with those who feel accountable for their own work.
Try stepping back and leaving them to their own devices. Allowing your workers to set their own goals will help them take responsibility for their accomplishments. Make sure they fully understand why their work is important to your business so they can take accountability for their role in the bigger picture. This will certainly increase retention rates.
Reducing employee turnover is a great way to save costs and improve the reputation of your business. If you’re dealing with high turnover rates, the solution might be simpler than you think! Focus on taking a human-centered approach to management rather than putting profits over all else. When your employees feel heard, valued, and respected, they’ll stick around!
Are you looking for ways to improve employee retention? Contact Roy Barker, an Employee Retention Strategist with 45 years of business experience, for help improving your company culture and becoming a more attractive employer. Email roy@roybarker.com
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