High worker retention should be a priority for every employer. After all, without knowledgeable, dedicated employees, even the most fool-proof enterprise is likely to encounter a number of hurdles. However, given how expendably many businesses treat employees, company loyalty and worker retention rates are often sorely lacking. So, if your business is regularly losing high-performing team members to competitors, you’ll need to take a look inward and question the type of work environment you’re fostering.
Provide Relocation Assistance
It’s hardly unusual for a promotion to facilitate relocation. However, it’s important for employers to understand how difficult big moves can be for employees and their families. For example, if someone has laid down roots in their current locale, upending their life – and the lives of their family members – is a pretty big ask.
In the interest of making the process easier, make sure to provide team members with relocation assistance. Covering moving costs and paying for lodging until a new home is found are the absolute least you can do in this situation. For added convenience, consider working with a company that provides beneficial pre-decision services.
Actively Encourage Feedback
No one likes working for a company that doesn’t prioritize their needs or value their opinions. While some companies simply don’t care about their employees, others give off this impression purely by mistake. If your company isn’t in tune with the needs of its employees, those at the top may believe that the workforce is perfectly happy when, in fact, they are extremely displeased with your direction and policies. Unsurprisingly, people who believe that their happiness is of zero concern to their respective employers won’t hesitate to leave their jobs the instant other opportunities present themselves.
With this in mind, make a point of actively encouraging employee feedback. Furthermore, make it clear that team members who provide feedback have no need to fear scorn or retaliation in response to offering their opinions. To drive home the fact that you value team members’ opinions, take care to create new policies and amend existing ones in response to the feedback you receive.
Reward Hard Work
While rewarding hard work may seem like a no-brainer, a staggering number of companies fail to properly appreciate or compensate their top performers. Not only can this facilitate tremendous disillusionment, it also stands to hinder productivity and diminish overall quality of work. After all, if a team member’s best efforts aren’t properly recognized, acknowledged and rewarded, why should they do anything beyond the bare minimum?
So, if your company has taken valued team members for granted, you’d be wise to correct this behavior posthaste. Rewarding high performers with pay raises, promotions and other tangible forms of recognition can keep people motivated, foster company loyalty and increase employee retention. Just remember – no one relishes feeling unappreciated, especially in professional settings.
Offer Schedule Flexibility
Sticking to a rigid eight-hour workday structure is unlikely to endear your company to its employees. In recent years, it’s become increasingly apparent that traditional workdays are an outdated concept. A sizable number of jobs can be done without reporting to formal workplaces and sitting behind desks for eight hours a day. And as many of us came to discover at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home is a far more viable option than many employers had previously made it out to be.
With this in mind, consider being more open to schedule flexibility. While certain tasks and meetings may require employees to be physically present in the office, the bulk of certain people’s job duties can effectively and efficiently be carried out from their respective homes. Furthermore, as long as project deadlines are dutifully met, it shouldn’t really matter where the work is being.
Every business should strive to keep its workers happy. Not only will this help draw out their best performances and instill a sense of company loyalty, it can also be a boon to your employee retention rates. So, if your business is less than worker-friendly, it’s in your best interest to get on top of the problem. The longer you fail to address low worker retention, the more talent your enterprise is liable to shed. Fortunately, with the help of the advice outlined above, combating waning employee retention should be well within the abilities of any employer.