Your employees are your most valuable asset when running your business. You need to do everything in your power to make sure that they stay with you for as long as possible. You’ve spent time, money, and effort training your employees and providing them with the tools they need to excel at their jobs, so it’s frustrating when an employee quits. There are many reasons employees leave their positions. Still, you can take steps to retain these valued employees in your company.
Fortunately, there are numerous strategies you can use to accomplish this goal. When you’re able to keep your employees from jumping ship, you’ll benefit from increased productivity and happier customers because your customer service will be better. Here are eight ways to help prevent employee turnover and increase employee retention.
1. Conduct a Pre-Employment Testing
A personality test measures your prospective employee’s ability to perform a specific job. It is an essential step before you hire an individual. It can also help you determine whether you even want that person on your team. The tests can accurately identify if someone has what it takes to succeed in a position before they ever step foot into your organization, saving time and money down the road. It will ensure everyone knows their strengths and weaknesses. In other words, some of your employees may excel in interacting with others. In contrast, others might be more suitable as independent workers. This type of information is vital to managing all aspects of an organization, from sales and marketing to human resources, keeping morale up, retention rates high, and turnover low.
2. Ask for Feedback
The more you ask your employees how they feel about working at your company, what their career goals are, and how they can be of better service to you and other employees, then you’ll start to notice patterns in their responses. Once you know where their feelings lie, it’s easier to begin thinking about effective strategies to retain them. Knowing what matters to your team members is also a great way to spot if someone is unhappy before they even have a chance to walk out that door. And make sure that when giving feedback, you keep each discussion focused on specific events and actions. There’s no need or time for any personal judgments or gossiping here. You want the information to use later as part of an overall retention strategy.
3. Recognize Employees’ Contributions
Often, employees don’t receive all the praise they deserve. Make time to recognize them when they go above and beyond their daily duties. These types of rewards can be as simple as thanking your employee in front of their peers or giving them a small bonus or raise. You should also celebrate success with your team regularly. Throwing pizza parties, BBQs, or potlucks might be a great place to start for you. However you choose to celebrate, make sure that your employees feel appreciated.
4. Offer Strong Perks
Employees want to be valued, and one of the best ways to show you value them is by offering perks they can’t get anywhere else. The cost of workplace perks can vary from just a few hundred dollars to thousands. Still, research shows that offering employees these extras is a great way to boost morale and retain valuable employees who feel like they’re getting something out of their job.
5. Create an Inclusive Workplace
Workplace turnover can be attributed to poor employee retention. Suppose you want your employees to stick around. In that case, it’s important to create an inclusive workplace where they can feel supported and appreciated. One way to do that is by providing a healthy work-life balance. By offering flexible work hours and allowing part-time schedules for certain positions, you can help your team members better manage their time. That way, they have more energy-and less stress-when working with you.
6. Treat Everyone Fairly and Equally
No one likes to feel picked on or singled out. If you notice that a few people in your organization are always upset about something, consider revisiting any pay discrepancies among employees. It can also be a result of favoritism-some people feel like they’re being overlooked if their coworkers are getting away with things they aren’t. To stop an employee retention problem before it starts, be fair and even-handed in your dealings with everyone in your company.
7. Share Financial Success Stories
Even though employee compensation is a business owner’s primary responsibility, offering incentives other than money can boost morale and reduce turnover. It’s worth it to get employees excited about your company and its prospects by sharing financial success stories with them regularly. In addition to instilling confidence in your team, good communication can reduce stress over finances.
8. Get New Employees Excited About Joining the Team
Your company’s most important asset is its employees. That’s why it pays to make sure they stay with you. Luckily, there are several ways to keep your workers engaged and happy. One of these is to create an employee orientation program that brings them up to speed on how things work at your business. It is also a great time to emphasize how much their efforts mean to you and how much you value their contributions.
If you don’t have any employees, you might think your business doesn’t need to worry about employee retention. It couldn’t be further from the truth-employee retention is an essential aspect of business operations at every level. Of course, if you have a small team, it might be less challenging to keep them around than if you have many employees. However, regardless of your hiring volume or workforce size, these tips can ensure your staff sticks around longer.
