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How to retain your best employees?

Considering the cost, the time and the emotional effort involved in recruitment and training staff, you want to ensure you hold on to them! After all, a successful business is driven by the experience, knowledge and commitment of good staff. Each employer will know too well the regret of an excellent and knowledgeable member of staff leaving their business.

 

So, the question is, once you have good employees, how do you retain your best employees? Unfortunately there is no magic answer and there are many things to consider as a business to assist with employee engagement, however, here we look at some key considerations for employers:

Company culture and environment: It’s imperative that businesses create a culture and environment that encourage employees to want to stay. We must remember how much time we all spend at work, therefore, it does need to be a happy place, organised and well managed.

Management: One of the key reasons why employees leave their job, other than their overall package, is because of their managers. As a business, it’s important you nurture a culture of trust, confidence and transparency between management and staff. Staff need to feel that there is someone they can be honest with and they know that person is going to be honest to them.

Clear communication: Make sure your employees know what you expect from them – clear expectations, honest discussions and clear policies and procedures. Staff need to know that they and their peers are being managed equally and fairly. Don’t forget, your employees want to feel part of the business so keep them up to date on progress, sale events and any other news.

Offering competitive packages to suit your employees needs: For years we have always thought of a competitive package being mainly about pay. Whilst the pay is an important part of a competitive package, it is not necessarily the key factor anymore. In today’s society, each generation has different priorities in their lives and as employers, establishing the best package for your staff will very much depend on your staff profiles. It’s important that employers try to provide a breadth of ‘enhancements’ that capture everyone’s interest in someway. Some things to consider when reviewing your packages may be: Holiday entitlement, flexibility in hours (time in lieu), pension packages, death in service benefit, discounts schemes, childcare vouchers, cycle to work schemes and of course, paying staff at the going rate. The list is endless but what is clear, employees want to find a good place to work!

 

Karl Whitaker at Frank Employee Benefits says: “With salaries stagnating across UK Plc, employers are having to look at other factors which can help retain their best staff members and this is where employee benefits come to the fore. With a well-designed benefits package which has elements within it which are attractive to all levels of staff at all stages in life, the employees will feel more appreciated & supported by their employer and would therefore feel far less inclined to move on to pastures new.”

Conduct “stay” interviews: In addition to conducting exit interviews to learn why employees are leaving, consider asking long serving employees why they stay. Things you might ask: Why did you come to work here? Why have you stayed? What would make you leave? What about your managers? What would you change or improve? This together with exit interview information and/or staff survey information can be used to strengthen your employee-retention strategy.

Personal development: It is important that staff feel that their own personal development needs are being addressed. This will vary according to the individual and role but regular appraisals will help guide you on this. Things to consider: career development, succession planning (important to promote internally wherever possible), training and nurture in roles.

Appraisals: A lot of employers when I mention the word appraisals sigh, with the typical response that they don’t have time to do them. I agree, they do take time, however appraisals are an imperative stop in time for all parties to reflect on their performance, their goals and aspirations, their development. In turn, how else do you really get to know an employees career needs and also, properly manage their performance (good and bad)! Those who do conduct them find added benefits of employee engagement and performance management.

Recognition: regular recognition and encouragement of staff. Staff like to hear “well done”, “thank you”, “what you’ve done here is really good” or “you’ll be great at that”. Remember that praise should be timely and personal to the individual or team.

It’s difficult as an employer to look at the reasons for employees leaving and not take it personally. That’s said, while your retention of employees is high, it’s equally as easy to take for granted all of the reasons employees are staying and to not reflect on what it is you are doing right! That’s where employee engagement and understanding your employees steps into play.

Top Tips:

  • Ensure you provide excellent inductions to set new staff off on the right foot!
  • Provide management and supervisory training to all people managers.
  • Review your overall packages for your staff – clearly they need to be affordable for the business but a good assessment may show minimal cost enhancements.
  • Don’t be afraid to carry out staff surveys or conduct ‘stay interviews’ to obtain feedback on your workplace – you may not like all the responses but at least you’ll know where to start.
  • Recognise that staff are an integral part of the success of your business.
  • Most importantly, think regularly about how you can be a workplace where people want to work!

If you require external support with your attrition rates or you are eager to create an environment that encourages employees to stay, please get in touch – we can help!

ViewHR is an HR and Employment Law Consultancy, working with businesses to provide specialist independent HR and Employment Law guidance and support.

For any enquiries, please contact ViewHR at hr@viewhr.co.uk or on 01425 205391. Visit our website at www.viewhr.co.uk