Nebel Crowhurst
No matter the industry you’re in, the people who make up your organisation will always be your greatest asset. That’s why retaining them should always be among your top priorities.
In this blog we’ll explain why employee retention is so important, give some example strategies for employee retention plans, and offer some tips around retention best practices.
What is employee retention?
Employee retention is the process of keeping employees in your organisation and reducing your staff turnover.
Employee turnover rate is the rate at which you lose staff over a certain period because they leave or retire. This doesn’t include staff who are fired or made redundant. It’s often calculated as a percentage over a certain time.
For example, if you had a team of ten people, and three of them left during the past year, your team’s annual employee turnover rate would be 30%. You want this number to be as low as possible, as a low employee turnover is often a key indicator that your staff are happy and content in their roles.
The key aspect of employee retention is that it is an active process – in the current employment climate you need to constantly be working to ensure your employees feel connected to the organisation, engaged with their work, and valued as members of the team.
Why is employee retention important?
It seems obvious, but it’s worth reminding yourself of the headache you’ll encounter if one of your top employees leaves your organisation. Losing a key team member means your team’s general effectiveness will decrease, and if they go to another job in your industry their skills and experience will soon be utilised by your competitors.
Often your key team members are popular figures who act as champions and cheerleaders within your organisation. They have a huge influence on your culture and motivation levels, so their leaving can have a very damaging impact on the remaining employees.
So, how do you improve employee retention? What are the secrets to retaining staff and reducing employee turnover, even in a competitive job market? We’ve got some solid employee retention strategies and tips for you below.
Three of the best strategies to improve employee retention
1. Set up an employee discounts scheme
An employee discounts scheme is one of the easiest ways to enhance your employee value proposition and keep your team satisfied, reducing the chance that they’ll have their heads turned by another position elsewhere. It shows you understand your employee’s financial positions and are doing everything you can to help make their money go further.
It’s also worth considering the psychological effect of discount schemes in relation to retaining employees. An extra £50 a month into their pay packet might go unnoticed by some, but a discount for their favourite shop or a weekly saving on groceries is sure to make people happy.
2. Offer enhanced employee benefits
Here’s your chance to really make a difference in the lives of your employees. By offering employee benefits your organisation can become more than simply a place for people to earn a salary. Speak to your employees to figure out what they need to make their lives easier and happier, then create an employee benefits programme that offers it.
You can also align your employee benefits with your business strategy and company values. Are you hoping to entice people back to the office but keep to your eco-friendly pledge? Then maybe a Cycle to Work scheme is right for you.
Of course, it’s important to be aware of and respond to everyone’s needs. For example, many organisations are finding employee benefits that offer discounts on everyday items are having a positive impact on staff morale during the cost of living crisis.
3. Prioritise Reward & Recognition
It sounds simple, but many organisations miss out on this basic employee need. A reward and recognition scheme is the easiest way to reward good work and strong results. It’s how you foster an environment of success and improve employee retention.
The key thing here is making it a continuous process. Pay reviews may only come round once a year, but a successfully-delivered project needs immediate recognition. A Ticket Restaurant Card your employees can use to treat themselves is an effective and tangible way of praising their good work.
Empowering your team and creating a positive, rewarding work culture that rewards hard work is one of the most formidable employee retention strategies you can invest in.
Employee retention best practices
Now that you’ve got a few strategies to try out, let’s go through some best practice principles when aiming to retain your best talent.
Onboarding is key
It might just seem like a pleasant way to get to know your new hire, but onboarding is much more than that, and can have a huge impact on improving employee retention.
By organising a comprehensive onboarding programme, you can teach new team members about the job and company culture, ensuring they fit in quickly and gel with their colleagues. It’s also a great chance to provide any training or support they might need, and gives you an opportunity to take them through any welcome packages or mentorship programmes you might offer, meaning they’ll instantly see how good your workplace is!
Focus on employee wellbeing 
Professional wellbeing is one of the best tools you have in your goal to improve employee retention. It’s not difficult to see why – high employee satisfaction leads to less turnover because content employees are more likely to stay put.
Make sure your team has access to wellbeing initiatives, be it through education, professional training, or just the space and time to become better versions of themselves. Offering volunteering days is another great way to improve wellbeing while allowing your staff to give back to their communities.
Remember that wellbeing is about both the mind and body. Gym memberships are a great perk, but do you have space in the office to hold yoga classes for your staff? Some offices even bring in a masseuse once a week to give their employees some TLC, letting them feel looser physically and refreshed mentally.
Remember, it’s not all about a salary
There will always be another job offering a better financial package that could catch the eye of your employees. That’s why you should always focus on the working environment you can create for them.
Creating a welcoming, enthusiastic environment where team members are allowed to experiment and grow within their careers can be worth more to some people than a higher salary. Develop this culture within your office and you’ll be sure to reduce employee turnover.
So, why do employees leave?
As mentioned above, people will always be tempted by a bigger salary, but there are many reasons that a person might want to leave an organisation that have nothing to do with financial incentives.
A lack on interaction with their line manager, unclear path of progression, and struggling to feel engaged with their work are all possible reasons that a valued employee could start looking elsewhere.
While this may sound daunting, these are all issues that you have the power to combat. By instituting a strong employee retention strategy you can ensure your staff are supported, both by their manager and peers, while also feeling connecting to their work and the organisation as a whole.
Retaining talent by implementing an employee engagement plan
The different employee retention strategies and techniques we’ve mentioned here will work best if you are sure all your staff are engaging with them. Offering a free gym membership isn’t going to help you with employee retention if none of your staff are aware of it! So make sure you have a solid internal communications platform to communicate all your various perks and benefits with your team.
Be sure as well to encourage feedback from your employees. If they respond well to a benefit, see if you can expand it. If your staff aren’t fans of it, then don’t be afraid to cut it. Listen to your team and base your strategy around what works for them.
You can actually take this one step further and actively measure employee engagement with your various benefits. Were people clambering over themselves to sign up to your Cycle to Work scheme 12 months ago, but this year there hasn’t been much take up? Take note of the data and you’ll be able to see the changing tastes of your workforce.
The benefit of increasing this kind of engagement is that you’ll build a stronger connection between your employees and the organisation.
An engaged employee is the best employee, and if they know their feedback can impact the benefits they receive, a sense of ownership will start to grow, which in turn will help improve your employee retention rate.
As a final point, it’s worth recognising that change always happens in the workplace. People look for new challenges or face changes in their lives, meaning some people will inevitably leave. Don’t hide away from this. Instead recognise it, and frame it as a potential advantage – there is a now an empty seat to fill, either by bringing in new talent or promoting from within!
Get in touch with one of our team today to discover how you can drive your retention goals by enhancing the employee experience across your organisation.
