Tips to Improve Your Staff Retention
2 Feb 2021
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Reignite the spark in your Employees
With Valentine’s day just around the corner, its an annual reminder for many to invest some time in their relationship with their partner.
Therefore, whilst we all recognise the importance of investing time in our personal relationships, surely then it could also be beneficial in reviewing and investing in the relationship an employer has with its employees?
Investing time in promoting a positive employer brand and building good relationships with your employees will be a surefire way to increasing productivity and staff retention.
As Virgin Group Founder Richard Branson once quoted “Take Care of Your Employees and they will Take Care of Business”.
In this blog we explore further the importance of reducing staff turnover and some tips to reignite a positive relationship with your employees and reboot motivation.
The Cost of Employee Turnover Is Higher Than You Think!
If you want to increase your recruitment success you need to start with reducing current staff turnover, not only does it mean you will not need to recruit as often (Allowing you to put more time into quality / strategic hires, as opposed to just plugging gaps), but also it will be easier to attract new talent to your business when you have low staff turnover as a major selling point!
According to an article by Forbes they have suggested the direct costs of staff turnover can cost up to 33% of the jobs salary (direct recruitment / advertising costs) and indirectly could cost a lot more when taking into account cost in time spent interviewing, onboarding and training, not to mention the hit on business productivity, extra strain on other employees and negative knock on effect to staff morale.
The article also noted that often an external recruit will require a higher salary than those you are replacing.
So, making an effort to increase staff retention is a must for any business to be successful.
Tips - Increase Staff Retention & Boost Morale
Considering the negative impact the Covid pandemic and lockdowns have had on most people’s physical and mental health, now more than ever is an important time to look for ways to boost staff morale. On that note, please see below some tips to help with your staff retention strategy.
1) Set Goals In Line With Their Motivation.
The biggest tip would be to understand your employee as a person and get to know what motivates them, so you can in turn set career goals in line with their personal aspirations and tailor training accordingly.
Perhaps they are saving to buy a house, in this scenario you could look to structure a career path that would help them hit promotional and in turn financial targets to meet this aim. Alternatively, perhaps they could benefit from businesses partnered with your company to make savings on such services like financial advisors or mortgage brokers?
Or perhaps they have a young family and would prefer more flexible working. Everyone is different so its important to find out what motivates employees as an individual not just as a team.
The key thing with setting goals is they need to be achievable and measurable to be rewarded.
In addition, if the last year has taught us anything it is that the future is ever changing and is hard times for employers to plan ahead for their business let alone employees planning their future, so with that in mind it is also important to have more agile plans and break goals down also into more shorter term plans, perhaps including 3 – 6 month targets as well as just 1 - 5 year plans to avoid an employees motivation stagnating.
Perhaps even include rewards for meeting the shorter-term targets, such as earning more annual leave, shopping vouchers, food / treat parcels or prizes in line with their hobbies / interests.
2) Deliver on Promises
Sticking to your word is crucial if your team are to be motivated and respect you as a leader.
3) Offer Support
With more people working remotely its becoming harder to notice if someone is struggling with workload, catch up regularly with staff with an open door approach and when required help out and lead by example.
4) Keep Staff Updated and Connected
Especially in uncertain times its important to keep staff updated on the company’s performance and plans, helping them understand the bigger picture and where they fit in will not only reassure them with any concerns but also gives them a “Reason Why” which helps boost motivation and productivity.
If you don’t already it may also be worth creating a monthly / quarterly internal company newsletter.
5) Training
Keeping on top of regular training shows you are continuing to invest in your employees and will help them reach their goals. Training should be planned in line with the employees goals for them to be incentivised to make the most of it.
6) Ask for Feedback
The quickest way to find out what could be done better is to ask for feedback, this could be done by an anonymous internal survey or during staff reviews.
Also look to make the most out of Exit Interviews on any employees leaving to learn how it could be avoided in future.
7) Salaries
Whilst retaining staff and keeping them motivated requires more than just financial incentive, it is important to keep a track of the market rates and look to rectify if its determined your employees are underpaid.
8) Create Friendly Internal Competitions
Internal competitions and rewards can not only boost staff motivation but also help your company reach its other goals such as improving quality / standards of excellence or customer service.
Want to learn more about us at Talk Recruitment Ltd?
Talk Recruitment Ltd is a specialist recruiter of Permanent and Contract staff UK-Wide to the Construction, Civil Engineering / Infrastructure , Consultancy, Design Engineering, Manufacturing and IT / Gaming industries and would be delighted to assist you with your job search by introducing you to our client portfolio.
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