Retaining your most valuable employees and top talent calls for effective employee retention strategies!
There are a lot of factors that contribute to retaining employees, including benefits, perks, flexible schedules, career advancement, recognition programs, company culture, employee appreciation, and many more. Researchers at Gallup found that replacing an employee could cost between half and twice as much as the employee’s annual salary. Providing a positive employee experience will help decrease turnover costs and increase worker productivity. So how do you keep your current employees happy while attracting new employees?
In an effort to keep employees engaged in your organization, we have compiled a list of the top ways to keep them motivated and improve job satisfaction rates.
Offer great benefits
If you offer great benefits, you will reduce your chances of having your in-person employees and remote employees look for work elsewhere. A study by SHRM reported that 56 percent of U.S adults with employer-sponsored health benefits decide whether or not to stay at their job based on their health coverage. It’s no secret that health insurance can be a deal-breaker for some workers, but thankfully, we’re here to help. What’s the best way to choose the health insurance that your employees will be happy with? Find a plan that offers cost savings, online access to health data, and convenient care options.
Another factor to consider is whether to join a Health Maintenace Organization (HMO) or a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). HMO plans require employees to see only approved doctors; your plan will specify which doctors are covered and have lower monthly premiums. The PPO lets you pick your own doctor both in and out of network, but you have to pay a high monthly premium. Once you pick the plan that works for you, it’s good to educate your employees about how much will be deducted from their paychecks and what the plan offers, etc.
Give your team a Healthy work-life balance
A flexible workplace attracts top talent, improves diversity, increases productivity, adapts to environmental conditions, and so much more! Since the pandemic, more and more people are looking for flexible work environments, and companies that offer them are more appealing and successful. According to ManpowerGroup Solutions, nearly 40% of job candidates worldwide said schedule flexibility was one of the top three factors in their career decisions. A work-life balance keeps employees from burnout and reduces stress, which leads to more productive and more performance-driven workers. Wondering how you can support your employees’ work-life balance and well-being? Provide flexible work options, like hybrid or remote work, let your team take breaks, have family-friendly policies, offer unlimited paid time off, and promote health and wellness.
Provide growth opportunities
Most employees quit when they feel there’s no way for them to advance. You will retain your best talent when human resources offer professional development opportunities because it will provide your employees and new hires with a sense of fulfilment which in return will boost productivity and decrease employee turnover. Implementing training programs, giving employees opportunities to be leaders, creating challenges, developing new skills, and promotions are all great ways to keep your employees and boost employee satisfaction. While there are many opportunities that you can provide to your teams, training programs are an excellent place to start. You can help employees by providing courses on project management and technical skills development and even rotational jobs where employees get to learn from other departments!
Quantum Workplace, found that professional growth opportunities were a key engagement driver for employee retention rates. In contrast, leaving employees listed a lack of growth opportunities as a reason to leave. Clearly, people stick around when there’s room to grow, so try these tactics so that your employees are challenged!
Employee recognition and rewards
One of the best way to keep employees engaged is to recognize them. When a company acknowledges its workers, team members feel valued and appreciated, which motivates them to keep up the great work! It’s even better when you recognize your employees publicly in the company newsletters and team meetings. It will inspire others to work harder. Incentives and rewards are another way to show your appreciation. What’s not to love about gifts? It could be anything from gift cards, our employee snack boxes, or letting them leave early on a Friday! Providing employees with positive feedback is one of the best ways to motivate them and keep them committed.
Create a fun work environment
We’ve created a fun, engaging work environment for our team at Cater2.me. We do things like play virtual games like Codenames, where some of the departments compete with one another. We’ve also had some fun contests by the HR and Marketing departments. Back in April 2021, the marketing team challenged everyone at the company to regrow scallions to see who could achieve the best results. As well as being excited to see the end results, everyone had to be creative and come up with the best names for their scallions. (They came up with pretty cool names!)
Fun work environments can boost engagement and positivity among colleagues. You really need this, especially if your team is fully remote or hybrid because most of the time your members are meeting virtually. Keeping the employee engagement up and including team-building activities will make the workplace fun and give your teams something to look forward to that’s not work-related!
Build a strong company culture
When employees feel like they’re part of an organization, they’re more likely to stick around. Having a great company culture will keep turnover rates low, productivity high, and employees happy no matter where they are. Whenever you hire new talent, be sure that they fit well with the culture and share the same beliefs as your core values. Research shows that employees who fit in with their organizations do better work and stay with them longer. Taking your time to hire the right candidate to make sure they’re on board with your company’s mission and goals is also important.
Here are a few tips on how to build a strong company culture:
- Set goals that keep employees aligned and on the same page
- Reinforce core values
- Get your team together with team-building activities
- Allow your team to contribute and feel involved
- Listen to feedback and act on it
The bottom line is competitive benefits, work-life balance, recognition, a fun place to work, and a fun workplace culture are what employees want. Using these strategies, you’ll be able to retain your top employees while attracting new ones. And if you want more tips on how to create an engaging hybrid workplace, check out this article!
