Why Focus on Employee Retention?

Employee retention rate. We’ve all heard the term, and with the “Great Resignation” slowly picking up steam, efforts to boost retention are quickly garnering more and more attention. However, while we all know of the benefits of reducing turnover (like saving time and money on recruiting) the “how-to” element of cultivating a company culture where employees want to not only stick around, but enjoy their work and feel valued on a day to day basis – tends to be a bit more vague, and varies from scenario to scenario.

While each company’s blueprint on how they’ll boost their retention metrics may look a bit different (ex. a stockbroker’s employees will likely be concerned with different benefits than a warehouse’s employees would be), the core fundamentals of crafting a company that employees want to stay at can be boiled down to four main elements:

• Onboarding Processes
• Compensation & Benefits
• Communication & Development
• Company Culture

We’ll dive into each below …

The Four Cornerstone Elements of Improving Your Employee Retention Rate

Onboarding and Training:

Providing a smooth and informative onboarding process is key. By taking the time to properly train and orient new employees, companies can help boost retention rates and set employees up for success.

A good onboarding process should cover all the basics of the job, as well as provide an overview of company policies and procedures. It should also give employees a chance to meet their colleagues and get a feel for the company culture. By taking care of each of these details, companies can help new employees adjust to their new roles and feel comfortable in their new environment – both of which are key factors in boosting retention rates.

In addition, a well-run onboarding process can also help improve employee productivity and performance. By ensuring that employees are properly trained from the start, companies can avoid costly mistakes and help employees hit the ground running.

Compensation, Perks & Additional Benefits:

Offering a competitive salary is important to in helping to boost your company’s employee retention rate. By offering employees a competitive salary, you are not only able to attract and retain the best talent, but you’re able to make them feel valued in the role they’ll be taking on within the company, saving you both time and money in the recruitment (and rehiring) process.

Beyond salary, many employees are appreciative of benefits that provide both security and work-life balance. There are, of course, the standard medical and dental insurance. However, now employers are placing an emphasis on benefits that respect an employee’s work-life balance, such as flexible schedules, the ability to work remotely, paid parental leave & more – all of which signaling to employees that their personal lives are well respected within the company.

Additionally, companies are also now offering benefits that encourage activities that improve employee’s lives outside of their working hours, such as subsidizing fitness programs or gym memberships, providing access to online courses covering everything from stress management to personal finance education, offering subscriptions to mental health apps such as Headspace or Calm, and more – the possibilities are endless.

While all of the above can be a great way to show you truly care about your employees, some will tend be more relevant in certain industries than others. Choose whichever you feel would serve your employees best.

Communication, Feedback and Employee Development:

In any workplace, communication is key to success. However, clear communication and constructive feedback are especially important in order to boost your employee retention rate, as well as aid them in further developing their skills. By maintaining clear communication and providing employees with regular feedback, managers can help them feel valued and motivated to improve their performance. Doing so shows employees that the company they’re with is committed to helping them grow and develop in their role. Furthermore, clear communication can help avoid misunderstandings that can lead to conflict or turnover.

As a whole, prioritizing transparent communication processes and constructive feedback within a company can lead to increased job satisfaction and loyalty among employees.

Company Culture:

A company’s culture is one of the most important factors in determining employee satisfaction. A positive company culture can lead to increased job satisfaction and loyalty among employees, while a negative company culture can lead to high turnover rates. When defining company culture, it is important to not only consider the values that are important to the organization, but how they can be conveyed to employees. Company culture should be seen as an ongoing process that evolves as the company grows and changes.

When setting a company culture, it’s important to put yourself in your employee’s shoes and consider a handful of questions (likely the same questions they’ll be asking themselves when they first become a part of your business), such as:

• What is the primary mission of our company? (What problem to do you solve?)
• Why have we chosen this to be our primary mission – what is the larger issue we’re solving? (What contribution are you making to society?)
• How do we exhibit this mission in our day-to-day operations? (Does a company looking to save the environment have a surplus of recycling bins around the office? Does a gym ensure that all their employees have access to healthy food?)

In defining your company culture, it’s also extremely important to define which values are most prioritized. Some questions to ask along these lines are:

• Do we encourage teamwork? If so, how?
• Do we encourage personal accountability at each level or the organization? (Are managers held just as accountable for their duties as entry-level employees?)
• Do we encourage innovation? If so, do have an environment and processes that encourage employees to bring their new ideas to the table, rather than merely have it as an option?
• Do we value stability or competition? Do we want our employees to feel safe and secure in their roles, or are is their reputation and compensation dished out on performance-based metrics?

While the above points are just a handful of considerations to make (and certainly not a conclusive list), they’re all important questions to ask when setting company culture. At the end of the day, company culture is what will not only help you find the right employees (and ward off the wrong ones), but it’s what will make employees feel at home within the office, and help them to truly identify with your company and its values – all of which leading to greater job satisfaction and, ultimately, more loyal staff.

Retaining Your Employees to Build A Sustainable Business

Each of these factors plays a crucial role in improving your employee retention rate.

Proper onboarding is essential for making sure new employees feel welcomed and comfortable in their new position. A competitive salary and thoughtful benefits ensures that employees feel valued and appreciated both for their work, and as a human being. Good communication helps create a positive work environment where employees feel respected and heard. Finally, a strong company culture builds loyalty and pride in the organization, which leads to employees sticking around for the long haul.

When all of these factors are present, turnovers drop significantly and companies tend to thrive, even as candidate pools continue to thin out, and the competition to land top prospects becomes more and more difficult.

As a whole, it all starts at the core of the company and with the policies that are instilled. As a rule of thumb, put yourself in your employee’s shoes and ask some of the pressing questions above, and you’ll be well on your way to boosting those employee retention rates!

P.S. For more tips on how to boost your employee retention rates, fill your roles with motivated employees and more be sure to subscribe to our newsletter below!