If your business isn’t actively measuring employee turnover and retention, then you may not be aware of the current rate within your business. Knowing the ins and outs of your employee retention rate can give you insight into what is working well within your business, as well as what could potentially be improved.
If you find that you have poor employee retention levels, this then leaves your business with the costly HR task of regularly hiring and training replacement employees. Improving your employee retention rate should be one of your top business priorities, whether you want to ensure the retention of current employees, or help keep future hires.
Knowing how to retain employees is dependent largely on understanding what currently drives employee job satisfaction within your business. When staff retention levels are high, you’re not just retaining the person, but also their valuable skills and knowledge. Is your business doing the right things to support the retention of employees, or could more be done to improve your employee retention rate? Let’s take a look at some strategies you can use in your business to improve your employee retention rate.
Retention rate is your businesses ability to keep and retain current employees, reducing employee turnover, which is when your employees leave their roles for other jobs, opportunities or reasons. Improving your employee retention rate can have a direct impact on your business success, as it means that having more employees can make it easier for you to plan and reach business goals. You can work out your employee retention rate by dividing your total number of remaining employees in a set period by the total number of employees you began with during that same period and then multiplying this figure by 100.
Having a good employee retention rate starts by hiring the right people. The best way to hire the right people is to ensure that you have a good recruitment process in place which ensures that you are hiring the right people and attracting the top talent for the role. You should avoid implementing a long and drawn-out recruitment process as this can encourage potential applicants to apply elsewhere if they feel like the job role isn’t justified by the application process. It’s important to interview in a way which allows you to understand the candidate that is applying for the role and whether they have the right skills for the job, whilst also being sure that they can work on and develop them during their career.
Employees who perform well often know that they do so and are ambitious with their career goals. They want to move up and progress through the career ladder, but if they don’t see promotion opportunities available at their present company, then they will begin to look elsewhere.
It is important to use internal recruitment, as well as development and succession programmes to allow the skills and knowledge of employees within your business to evolve. Having these internal development and progression opportunities available to current staff can ensure that employees within your business feel supported and motivated to progress up the ladder, thus improving your employee retention rate.
Your employees will, on average, be spending more of their time at work than they will at home or with their friends and family. This is why it is important to ensure that your business is actually somewhere where people are happy and interested in working. Employee benefits and perks are one way to make sure of this, as well as improve your employee retention rate. Offering perks and benefits shows employees that you genuinely care about them and, in some cases, offer them things which help to provide a sense of security within their lives.
Another thing to consider is your actual, physical workplace. Is the space inspiring, or is it in need of an update? If your employees are going to work in a space which is dull, has uncomfortable furniture or uninspiring communal spaces, then this could be affecting staff morale, leading to poor staff retention. If your workplace could benefit from an office fit out, or if the current layout doesn’t quite suit your business, then it would be worth considering your current goals, as well as your future ones.
One of the biggest reasons for employees leaving their jobs is because they don’t feel supported by their managers. In order to combat this, ensure that your business is investing in professional and effective training for managers so that they know how to effectively support employee development. Proper training ensures that managers are equipped to have hard conversations if needed, such as developing skills or making changes to job processes. At the end of the day, employees want to feel as though their managers care, listen to and support them, and having effective manager training can make sure that this happens.
