How to Develop an Employee Retention Strategy That Works
You thought finding the right talent was a challenge? Just wait till you realize how loyal they aren’t to your company!
This is a major challenge that all business owners will face. With so many job opportunities available, you can never take your employee retention for granted.
As such, every company must create a separate employee retention strategy. This helps you find a way to attract talent and make sure they stay with your company for several years.
Here’s what you need to know:
Finding the Right Employees
The first step is to always find the right employee who is likely to stay within your company.
For example, you wouldn’t want to choose an employee who is entrepreneurial. While such a person might have exceptional talent, it’s likely that they’ll want to leave and start their own business.
You want to choose someone who’s interested in building your business rather than your own.
Next, is to also see if they’re a cultural fit. This means that their personality and working style fits into your company.
If you run a company in which joking around, casual wear, etc., are the norm, you won’t want someone who is serious and in a suit all the time!
You want to make sure your team has a common culture and parlance for working together. Only hire employees who fit into this culture and parlance.
Understand HR Best Practices
You want to make sure you understand the future of HR to improve employee retention. Finding resources such as this article will help you understand what best practices you need for employee retention.
For example, part of HR today is “People Ops.” This refers to a set of practices for treating your employees as if they were customers.
You want to keep providing services and products to your employees — as you would to customers.
You can create a library of media related to your industry. This way, your employees always have the option for professional development. You can also invite industry leaders to give an exclusive seminar.
Make sure you understand the future of HR and what employees expect from their employers.
Without this, you can expect to lose your employees to a company that keeps up with the trends.
Create an Onboarding Process
Employees will stay with your company if you help them get acclimated to it. They’ll feel like a part of the company and won’t be in a rush to leave.
As such, you want to create an onboarding process before seeking your talent.
With this onboarding process, you’ll train them on their work procedures. You want to make sure they feel prepared by Day One.
You also want to let them know about the working style and parlance expected within the workplace. Let them know about the chain of command and various processes within the company.
During the onboarding process, you should introduce the new hire to as many employees as possible. This will make them feel “part of the family” by the time they start working.
Perks
Particularly for millennials, many talented professionals today expect more than a generous salary.
They’ll want to work for perks that give them “bragging rights” among their colleagues. Often, perks are a great incentive for making employees work harder as well.
Here are some great examples of perks to offer employees:
- Exclusive merchandise
- Paid vacation deals (cruises, all-inclusive resorts, etc.)
- Discounts and coupons
- Reimbursements (for parking, meals, etc.)
- Recognition of achievements (“Employee of the Month” etc.)
- Subscription reimbursements (Netflix, Audible, etc.)
It’s best to look at your competition to see what perks they offer. Even if you offer a higher salary, you can lose the best talent on the perks alone.
Wellness
What happens if your employees feel burned out at the workplace? What if it takes its toll on their mental and physical health?
You want to invest in your employee’s healthcare. For example, you can reimburse them for a gym membership.
You can also hire a personal trainer to come into the office to conduct a workout session for your staff. Another option is to offer reimbursements for health food stores and restaurants.
If your office has a cafeteria, make sure you provide healthier options. You can also offer meditation sessions, break rooms, and other excursions for helping your employees relax.
Offering Flexible Work Schedules
One of the things that employees value most about their work is freedom. You want to try to offer flexible work schedules when possible.
For example, don’t have a fixed schedule (9-5) unless it’s required. You can let employees work as they please as long as they reach 40 hours. You can also offer partial or full-time remote work.
You can give your employees projects and tell them to work when they please, as long as they meet deadlines. The main goal is that you should let your employees have much ownership over their time as possible.
This also means cutting down on meetings and other requirements that take time away from actual work. You also want to make sure that meetings, onboarding, seminars, etc., never get dragged on.
You even want to be mindful of “fun” excursions, retreats, etc. While these might be enjoyable, your employees might wish to spend their time doing something else. Don’t force them to go on the company retreat, even if it’s a week-long trip to Bali!
The more time your employees have, the less of a wage slave they’ll feel. You’ll find that a talented professional will take a lower salary for more free time.
Prepare Your Employee Retention Strategy
Use the steps in this guide to prepare your employee retention strategy. If you focus on creating a company culture, offering benefits, and finding the right talent, then you’ll keep them!
As a final step, make sure you also ask for employee feedback. You want their honest opinions on what they like and dislike about the workplace. This will help you address any issues and improve employee retention.
Please make sure to share this guide with your fellow entrepreneurs. You can find more business tips on our website.
