Top Employee Retention Strategies for 2020

75% of American employees plan to leave their jobs within five years. Although frowned upon in the past, job-hopping is the new normal. If employers don’t find a way to retain employees, they waste significant resources training new ones.

In this post, we’ll look at ways for businesses to retain trained employees and cash in on their experience.

Start Retention Processes From the Recruiting Stage

Starting with the right candidates is essential. Companies must tighten up their hiring processes to ensure new employees fit the culture well. The second step is to ensure that the onboarding process goes as smoothly as possible.

Provide a Clear Career Advancement Path and Training

Companies that promote from within provide employees with a clear career path. By also providing the training, companies show employees that they’re valued. When employees see that there’s a clear path to promotion, they’re more likely to stay.

Providing a good employee training program is also a good recruiting tool. You’ll be better able to attract the right talent when hiring externally.

A good training program provides essential skills that your employees need. The better your staff members are trained, the better they perform their roles.

Provide the Right Incentives

A high-pressure, low-reward environment is one in which everyone loses. Providing employees with the right incentives shows them that you value their work. They’ll have better job satisfaction, and be more motivated.

The smart use of incentives means going beyond providing paid leave and healthcare. Companies should consider bonuses for performance and long service too. Flexible work schedules and the ability to work remotely are also good retention strategies.

Open Communication and Transparent Policies

Allowing employees to communicate with management openly fosters trust. Conducting meetings, getting employee feedback, and acting on that feedback is essential in retaining employees.

The second part of this is to ensure that you keep employees abreast of significant developments. It’s important not to underestimate the rumor mill in an office environment. Employees at ground level often realize that there are problems brewing.

Management must deal with rumors to avoid them being blown out of proportion. It’s also essential that employees don’t hear bad news from outside. If they’re taken off guard by it, it’s hard for management to build trust.

Use Data, Not Assumptions

Research may indicate that January is a prime time for employees to leave. Don’t assume that general trends apply to your company unless confirmed by data. When do you have the most resignations? What is the primary reason that employees give for leaving?

Having HR conduct a comprehensive exit interview allows you to find out if the company failed. If it did, determining the cause helps you to find the solution.

Analyzing other employee data may assist the company in identifying employees who may be ready to leave. Decreased performance, not meeting targets, and increased absences may all point to employees prepared to move on.

At the least, they’ll show that something is wrong. It might become necessary to provide additional support for those employees.

Fostering Teamwork

Creating a highly competitive environment is often seen as a motivational tool. While there’s some truth in that, too much competition hampers co-operation and may become harmful. Employees should be encouraged to work together rather than against one another.

Final Notes

A happy workforce is a productive one. Totalitarian rule is valid only when employees don’t feel as though they have options. Remote working has improved opportunities for workers worldwide.

If you wish to retain your highly skilled workforce, make your working environment as positive as possible. Make the workplace somewhere that employees want to stay, and keeping them becomes far simpler.