Are You Doing Enough to Retain Your Talent?
Competition for workers is becoming more intense. So it’s more important than ever to hire and retain good people. When someone with mission-critical skills leaves your organization, they take with them all that you’ve invested in them. Here are some strategies to help you increase retention so you get the most out of your investment:
Hire the Right Person in the First Place – Hiring is not always about the right experience, but about finding people with the right mindset and willingness to contribute. Designing a rigorous selection and hiring process is as necessary as implementing any other organizational strategic process.
Don’t Skimp on Onboarding – Onboarding is an opportunity to welcome employees by immersing them into the culture of your organization and showing them all the ways they can meet their own professional goals. A poor or non-existent onboarding program can lead to an employee leaving due to feeling confused or alienated and possibly lacking confidence in their new role and environment. Avoid this with a formal onboarding program. Then schedule 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins with your new employee to stay up to date on their needs and how they are performing.
Offer a Competitive Salary and Benefits – Do you know what the benchmarks are for salary and benefits within your industry? You can bet your employees do. And if you’re behind the curve, retention will suffer.
A Little Recognition Goes a Long Way – Employee recognition can have a big impact on keeping employees happy and satisfied, which translates to increased productivity and retention. If budget or time concerns have kept you from creating a structured employee recognition program, more than just your employees are missing out. But not to worry – with a little bit of creativity and communication, you can create low cost/high impact employee recognition.
Invest in Talent Development – Business magnate Richard Branson expressed it best when he said: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” Careers expand horizontally, and giving your employees the chance to develop their skill set will keep them happy and engaged within your organizations.
Increase Productivity with Employee Engagement – Employee engagement goes beyond activities, games, and events. Employee engagement drives performance. Engaged employees look at the whole of the company and understand their purpose, where, and how they fit in. This leads to better decision-making. Organizations with an engaged workforce outperform their competition.
Focus on Building a Great Company Culture – Every policy, statement or official material that your employees receive is an opportunity to optimize the culture of your workplace. This is much more important than many employers realize, as both performance and behavior are reflections of the leadership of a given company.
We help companies build great retention strategies every day. Contact us to find out how we can help you.
