Companies today need to be able to grow with technological innovations in order to stay competitive. A large portion of this growth is made possible through the repeated training and development of their employees’ knowledge and skills.
Employee retention allows a company to continually develop its staff, without losing the investments they have made in skills and training. When thinking of how to attract and retain employees, you may want to start with the latter. “Employee retention” refers to the various policies and practices used by an organization to retain its employees. The cost of hiring new employees is typically higher than it is to retain them, and turnover can cause stress for current employees.
Attracting Employees to Your Business
Every employer wishes to attract and retain talent, especially for positions that are integral to performance and growth. Before hiring these employees, a company first needs to attract job seekers to their business. The following list consists of different ways that companies can attract the best employees to their organization.
Demonstrate a Pleasant Work Culture
Having a positive workplace culture is key when figuring out what attracts employees to a company. A study conducted in 2019 showed that company culture was the second most important aspect in job-offer evaluations behind salary. To help attract more prospective employees, workplace culture should be included in the job description. Creating a unique or positive image of a company will help attract the right people from the start.
Offer Appealing Benefits and Perks
Attract and retain top talent by offering excellent benefits and perks. 78% of companies offer health insurance, with slightly fewer offering dental, vision, and other basic benefits. With more companies offering these benefits, it has become somewhat of an expected standard; 92% of employees stated that having benefits is important to their job satisfaction.
Companies with more appealing benefits such as gym memberships, maternity leave, PTO, and 4-day work weeks should make it a point to advertise these perks. Making these benefits more noticeable can increase the probability that potential candidates will complement a company’s work ethic.
Use Modern Technology
As part of your employee retention strategy, use modern technology. 35% of employees worldwide believe that their job is harder than it should be due to outdated processes and technology. There are often bespoke solutions and resources available to simplify common processes or business needs, no matter how niche the industry or marketplace is. For instance, a business such as a cleaning company can have its operations streamlined by using cleaning scheduling software or field service software to set up tasks, fill out employee calendars, and ensure a balanced workload. By advertising the use of current software, prospective employees may feel more inclined to seek employment with a company. Applicants can see how their daily routines will be aided by software and other modern resources, rather than seeing an archaic series of processes they will have to learn to survive. Ultimately, using modern technology helps businesses better serve customers and clients as well as make employees’ lives easier at work.
Reach Out to Employees That Will Benefit Your Company
Outreach messages are an important facet of recruiting the right candidates. If there is a specific person or group of people that could be a great fit for a company, it is important to reach out to them rather than waiting for them to reach out. Setting up career fairs, sending emails, or scheduling meetings can be a great way to inform the candidates of both your company’s goals as well as its interest in them.
Offer Current Employees Referral Bonuses
Referral bonuses can be an excellent source of quality candidates. According to a study by CareerBuilder, 88% of employers rated employee referrals above all other sources for quality of hires, and 82% rated employee referrals above all other sources for return on investment.
Employee referral programs encourage employees to source their existing social and professional networks to provide candidates with incentives. The incentives offered can range from cash bonuses, gift cards, or can even paid time off. These programs can also increase employee morale by allowing the employee to be more involved in the hiring process while outsourcing the filtering of candidates to trusted employees.
Provide Room for Growth Within Your Company
Research suggests that employees regard growth as a core value, and will seek out opportunities to facilitate that growth. Having opportunities for development for prospective employees may be a deciding factor in whether or not they will choose employment at a company.
Retaining Your Current Employees
Replacing employees, especially good ones, may prove challenging for many business owners. It is usually much more beneficial to learn how to keep good employees rather than find new ones, although an employee that performs their job well doesn’t always choose to stay with a company. Some tips to improve employee retention rate is listed below.
Offer a Flexible Schedule
A flexible schedule will allow an employee to work hours that may not coincide with normal business hours. Not every good employee will have the availability to work standard hours. Often, there are circumstances that may cause conflicts with a work schedule; having the availability to be flexible will help cater to the needs of current employees. This can include things such as flexible work hours, condensed workweeks, job sharing, and allowing employees to work remotely.
Make Sure Your Employees Know What You Expect From Them
Make sure to educate employees on what is expected, from both job performance as well as cultural expectations, in the workplace. It can be difficult for an employee to meet expectations without first knowing what the benchmarks are.
Have a Human Resource Department
If a company exceeds 50 employees, it is advisable to have a dedicated human resource department. An HR department typically handles employer-employee relations, payroll and benefits, employee performance improvement plans, record keeping, and tax compliance. While smaller businesses may not have the need or monetary allowances for an HR department, it is still important to have an authoritative figure that employees can address should there be any issues.
Treat Your Employees Fairly
Employees are a company’s greatest assets. If a company wants to become better at attracting and retaining talented employees, it should treat them well. When an employee knows that their company cares about them, they may be more inclined to care about the company. This can have positive implications for work performance, stress management, employee retention, and company brand.
Retaining good employees consists of many cumulative elements. Motivational variables will be different for each person, so understanding what intrinsically and extrinsically motivates employees should be a priority for employers. Once an employer understands the motivational variables of their employees, they can take action to create more retention-favorable environments within their company.