You’re having trouble keeping talented employees on staff. This is frustrating, because constantly having to fill open positions is holding your company back.
Clearly something needs to change, but you’re not sure where to start. Use this guide to help create a plan that will improve your retention rates, so you can finally start focusing on something besides hiring.
Understanding Employee Retention
You want your most talented and productive workers to stay with your company. Employee retention efforts focus on just that. You’ll need to get to the root cause(s) motivating people to leave, then work to make positive changes. Ensuring retention levels high are high is important for many reasons, including building a strong team, knowledge retention, and keeping morale high.
Identifying Factors that Affect Employee Retention
Every workplace is different. Therefore, what is causing low levels of retention at one company, might not be the same thing at another.
Figure out what’s going on at your business by conducting exit interviews on departing employees. You can also anonymously survey current employees on what the company could be doing better or — if you think they’ll feel comfortable being honest — have direct conversations with them in person.
Some common issues that affect employee retention include poor new hire onboarding and training, below-average pay, lack of recognition, no room to grow, and a toxic culture.
Strategies for Improving Employee Retention
It probably goes without saying that the best way to improve employee retention is to fix the issues causing people to head elsewhere.
For example, if people feel like they’re not being paid enough, try to find more room in the budget to boost salaries. If you’re unable to do that, find out what other — affordable — perks people would like to see and institute as many as possible.
On the other hand, if employees want more career development opportunities, make an effort to help them grow on your watch. Send them to conferences, bring trainers in, provide educational assistance, hold lunch and learns, or create a mentoring program.
Have managers map career paths out with employees that allow them to see a future at your company. If they know they can move up the ladder at your organization, they’re more likely to stay put.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Employee Retention Strategies
After putting retention strategies in place, you need to make sure they’re working. Using metrics to track retention is the best way to monitor your progress.
A few key metrics you’ll want to keep track of include your employee retention rate, turnover rate, and average length of employment. These can be tracked on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
If your Michiana company’s retention rates are higher than you’d like, Wood Staffing can help. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you!
