What is Employee Retention Strategies?
How to motivate and retain employees?
Being a HR Professional do you often think of these questions? If you really are; this write-up will end your search. Read here to know some strategies to reduce employee turnover.
In today’s competitive world employees keep looking for better opportunities, therefore, it becomes difficult for an organization to retain its talent. When it comes to the challenges faced by the organization or HR Professionals, then Employee Retention tops the list. Employees switch their job for multiple reasons, and the first is the organizational culture. If the corporate culture is unsatisfactory, employees will leave. Secondly, job satisfaction which comes with various parameters like compensation or remuneration, lack of superior support, lack of growth opportunity and work-life imbalance. And there are more such reasons…
Nearly half (47%) of HR professionals cited employee turnover as their top workforce management challenge this year. The cost of employee retention — $600 billion in 2018 and $680 billion by 2020 — this seems counterintuitive. A Work Institute report predicted that one in four workers would leave their jobs in 2018. Nearly one-third of that turnover was attributed to unsupportive management and lack of development opportunities.
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Why does Employee Retention Matters?
Employee retention has a direct relationship with productivity in the workplace. An organization invests money and time in training employees and makes them competent to work and understand the culture of the organization. It has been noticed that if employees are working for a longer period in an organization they become loyal toward it. Employee retention is cost-effective as compared to a new hiring process and employees are aware of the organization’s rules, regulations, and policies which reduce the orientation training.
How Employee Life Cycle Goes?
The Employee Life Cycle is the framework that maps the employees’ progress while they are working in the organization. HR Professionals holistically determine individual employees’ effort and performance. HR uses this data to attract the best talent and boost employee morale and engagement. The motive behind the Employee Life Cycle Model is to consider an employee experience as valuable as customer experience and realize their contribution to the organization.
How do you motivate and retain employees?
10 Creative and Innovative Employee Retention Strategies
1. Hiring For Cultural Fit
It is considered the most important tool of employee retention. This implies the candidate has the temperament and societal skills to work well with the current employees. The candidate would bring and add new ideas that benefit everyone in and outside the organization. The right candidate at the right place can greatly boost organizational culture. It is also said that culture works as the glue that binds the team together.
2. Give Responsibilities As Per Employees’ Interest
This would maximize their potential. It increases the motivation and creativity of employees at all levels. The degrees to which employees enjoy their work create happiness in the workplace. It also fulfills the expectation of the employer towards achieving organizational goals. Suitably engaged and committed employees bring the desired result for an organization. Also, they are responsibilities that make you feel a part of the organization.
3. Maintaining Work-Life Balance
The competitive world is relatively hard. A good work-life balance enhances ingenuity and boosts the morale of employees. Work-life balance is to have the flexibility to get the work done efficiently and to meet the need for the personal and family life. The work-life balance increases the productivity of the employees and gives them quality and stress-free time to spend with their families. Employees with a good work-life balance are 10% more likely to stay at their companies.
4. Performance Appraisal Is The Key
A performance Appraisal is the primary element of employee retention. It is the process of rewarding employees for their current performance and retaining them for the future growth of the organization. The better the employees’ appraisal, the higher are the chance to retain them. An organization should focus on the appraisal method so that the right employee gets the proper growth. This would also lead to job satisfaction.
5. Conduct Training And Development Program
Regular T&D helps employees to develop a new skill set and knowledge. Training and Development is an investment not only for the employees but also for the organization. This makes employees competent to face any challenges. With the training; employees become high performing; similarly, development increases the chance of staying employees in their current jobs. T&D boosts the morale of the employees and motivates them to perform better.
6. Cultivate Team Spirit
It is the success mantra for any organization. The team that has unity, trust and loyalty among each other has a high level of team spirit. Developing team spirit can lead to the growth of an organization for making it a market leader. Concise communication and cooperation encourage employees to develop a strong relationship with each other. Higher the team spirit, higher the productivity and job engagement of employees.
7. Give Monetary Benefits
These are the rewards paid by an employer to an employee for his/her excellent performance on the job. The motive behind the monetary reward is to build a positive work environment. It is the direct method of appreciation and motivation. Monetary benefits can be offered as merit pay, incentive, profit sharing, stock offer and bonuses. In the end, all of our work to earn.
8. Promote Sabbatical Programs
This is an excellent way to give employees a break for a certain period. Sabbatical programs help in developing new skills and talent that make employees more competitive. It fosters employee growth and work satisfaction. A sabbatical program reduces the stress level and promotes organizational commitment, transparency and wellbeing. Sometimes it is a pleasure to learn while you are on a vacation.
9. Opportunity To Work Onsite Projects
It is considered a break for employees to learn new knowledge and skills. Onsite Projects-are a kind of job enrichment. It gives them a new experience to explore a new country, new culture and new people. It’s a great learning platform for employees. Onsite projects boost employees’ careers and motivate them to get international work experience, open-mindedness and adaptability.
10. Create Culture Of Peer-To-Peer Recognition
It creates a progressive work culture and improves the morale productivity, and efficiency of employees. This ultimately leads to positive and improved workplace relationships. Peer recognition builds confidence in the employee and improves the interest that motivates them to work better. It can be said that peer recognition makes employees more inspired and inventive-to improve their thought processes.
Conclusion
Retention strategies are a must-for organizations where employees leave a job within one year of the recruitment.-It has always been seen that the hiring cost is higher than the retaining cost. Organizations should run effective retention programs to reduce turnover. An employer should compare themselves to the industry benchmark and focus on the lacking areas. Employee retention programs also open the door to personal growth and development.