For the majority of firms, how to improve employee retention is a critical and urgent issue.

People leaving can be due to a variety of reasons, and sometimes those reasons are beyond your control. However, many solutions to resignations are well within your control. This leaves businesses with a tough dilemma to deal with. Organisations must develop a strong culture to withstand these changes, motivate employees and be the reason for them to stay despite multiple offers from other companies and the ever-present allure of striking out on their own.  

Retention strategies are not a one-size-fits-all solution and can vary from one company to another. What works for some may not be that effective for others. Employee retention is a long-term goal that should be considered part of your overall cultural ambitions. You can start with addressing turnover by utilising data, analysis, and strategy, not with impulse. With the right focus and tools, you can foresee limitations and plan to avert them.

Here are 6 strategies to improve employee retention.  

1. Clarify your Strategy

You cannot control what you do not comprehend. Make sure you understand what makes your people leave or stay. Know what’s happening with your turnover, who is leaving, why they are leaving, and what are the main issues. Taking a purposeful problem-solving approach can help determine the answers to figure out a solution to improve employee retention. 

2. Utilise employee input to support your retention plan

Employees want to be involved and they are aware of the situation better than anyone. However, this type of feedback requires multiple channels. Leaders are often concerned because they think employees don’t really tell the truth about such things. However, based on Quantum Workplace’s study, employees are engaged when they are regularly asked for feedback and when leaders frequently act on feedback. Put simply, just talk to your people – often.  

3. Analyse turnover and retention with a strategic approach

In short, retention is worth working on longitudinally. Determining ways to significantly reduce undesired turnover can be challenging and daunting. Leaders frequently put off taking steps to retain exceptional employees as a result of this feeling. However, there are a lot of clever approaches to turnover that you should be taking into consideration. It is also a lot simpler to have an influence when you dive a little deeper. Data is the key. Determine your turnover rate, the trend, how you compare with other companies, the economic climate, the prevailing talent market etc. The answers to these questions frequently alter since they are subject to constant change. It’s critical for leaders to monitor key data in order to develop a deliberate and successful strategy for employee retention. 

4. Spend money on worthwhile initiatives

Some turnover is inevitable. Leaders must be willing to drop what is no longer working for them and focus more on what is required to bring about good change. The goal of action should be long-term, continuous progress. A flexible leader iterates in response to fresh knowledge and/or failed attempts. The tiniest changes have a massive effect. Prioritise actions once you’ve discovered insights in your engagement and turnover data.  

5. Prioritise culture and employee engagement as major solutions

Boost employee engagement and build a solid culture to retain employees. Additionally, you’ll attract the best talent. According to Quantum Workplace’s research, there are significant disparities in employee turnover intentions and behaviours based on engagement, even while highly engaged and lowly engaged people are hired in roughly equal numbers. Employees who are very engaged are: 

• 2.5X less likely to interview for another job 
• 6.8X less likely to apply to new jobs 
• 1.9X more likely to say they plan to stay 

Culture and engagement- Everything from productivity, performance, people and profit all eventually boil down to culture. Many companies use popular tools to reaffirm their own belief in the success of their culture. They do not consider other factors that affect culture. For instance, companies use employee engagement surveys to facilitate changes that will help the business.  Engagement surveys are not a bad idea, but they do not fully inform what is happening in culture. Employee engagement is a feature of culture. You get good engagement because of a supportive culture. Poor culture means poor engagement.  

“Culture and engagement is the most important issue companies face around the world. 87% of organisations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, and 50% call the problem ‘very important’.” 

“Organisations that create a culture defined by meaningful work, deep employee engagement, job and organisational fit, and strong leadership are outperforming their peers and will likely beat their competition in attracting top talent.” -Deloitte 2015. Brown, Melian, Solow, Cheng, Parker.   

6. Involve everyone

Some companies simply play the blame game for increased turnover. Lack of ownership results in minimal to non-existent progress and expensive attempts to fill the gaps while also suffering downturns in business. Everyone contributes to retention in some way. The topic of retention is too extensive for any one function such as HR, to have much of an effect. Always remember that there are multiple factors causing retention. Take a holistic approach and involve people at every level.  

CPC can help you improve employee retention 

The attempt to keep good employees will always be a struggle, especially in the environment we live in today. The availability of information has never been greater, and we are more enlightened than ever. As a result, we can make judgments more quickly and with better information. Good talent is scarce. Growing and developing your own is costly, and there is no guarantee you will see the full return on that investment.  

Excellent employees are constantly seeking out bigger and better offers. People will search for new opportunities because they believe that the grass is greener elsewhere. Organisations must work diligently to address this major concern. CPC can help you take a purposeful and comprehensive approach to discover the true causes for turnover and determine a solution that will increase retention and maintain consistent performance. Let us get you started for free.   

 Adapted from Quantum Workplace| How to Retain Top Talent|