Employee retention strategies are used to reduce employee turnover rates within a company. Each organization’s plan should include policies and programs that attract and retain their valuable employees. As an employer, it is important that your strategies should be centered around the employees’ specific needs.

Why Should you Create an Employee Retention Strategy?

No company wants high turnover rates. They can be expensive, inconvenient, and harmful to the success of the company. The time and energy spent recruiting, hiring, and training new candidates could be spent being productive or improving employee satisfaction in a number of ways.

Effective Strategies for Employee Retention

1. Focus on the hiring process

Rushing this process can result in having employees that aren’t a great fit for the company, and they will likely end up leaving their position. You can avoid these situations by creating a clear job description with exact details on expected qualifications, skills, and experience.

2. Offer a competitive salary & benefits

Making sure employees feel their value is being appropriately compensated is an important strategy in employee retention. Feeling as though they are being undervalued is one of the most common reasons for an employee choosing to leave a company. If you offer employees a less competitive salary, consider adding benefits to your compensation package. Think of your employees’ needs such as insurance, retirement, cell phone stipends, gym memberships, etc.

3. Offer additional incentives

This could be a professional development class or a service that offers value to employees which could help them imagine a future with the company. Investing in your employees’ professional success is a great way to increase their skills and show employees that you value them.

4. Train effective managers & leaders

Lower-level employees are more likely to leave an organization when they are not satisfied with the leadership. Since they spend a majority of their workweek interacting with their leaders, it could be harmful to have unclear and ineffective management. Training on leadership, communication, and teamwork skills is great for managing others effectively.

5. Encourage a culture of open communication

Satisfaction rates for employees will generally be higher when they feel they can openly communicate with management and discuss their problems or concerns. Trust among middle and upper level employees is vital to the success of a company, and you can achieve this by welcoming employee requests through open communication.

6. Create clear work objectives

Employee morale is at risk of declining when they do not fully understand their duties or performance evaluation. Managers and employers should set clear objectives and regularly discuss progress. This will motivate employees and help them better understand their role.

7. Understand what makes employees leave or stay

This can reduce turnover rates by giving the company a better understanding of the driving forces behind an employee’s decision to leave. Keep track of the most common reasons that employees leave and encourage an open conversation during an exit interview. Additionally, discussing with current employees the reasons they stay at the company can be useful information. This will help you understand what they enjoy and appreciate about the company as a whole.

8. Encourage professional work relationships

When employees are engaged with a company, they tend to be more connected to its goals. Employee outings and events can help develop relationships among members and a sense of community within the company.

9. Value a work/life balance

It is important that your employees do not feel like the demands on their job are affecting their personal lives. Giving employees the chance to work from home if possible and being less rigid with work hours can improve satisfaction rates and reduce employee turnover. Set expectations for not emailing or calling regarding work on weekends, evenings, and vacations.

Source: Indeed: 9 Effective Employee Retention Strategies