Employee retention says a lot about your business. After all, if you know how to keep your best employees happy, you’re probably good at meeting your customers’ needs too.
Happy people do better work. Plus, the cost of replacing a highly-trained employee can be more than 200 times their annual salary! If your business has an employee turnover problem, the worst thing you can do is ignore it. In order to retain your best employees, you have to meet their needs. It sounds simple, but making lasting changes to your company culture takes time, money, and effort.
Not sure where to begin? The most effective employee retention strategies come from extensive employee research and analysis. An anonymous survey may help you get to the heart of your company’s issues, and rewarding their participation is a great way to ensure participation. In the meantime, here are five areas to focus on that can help you improve your employee retention and get your company on the road to a happier tomorrow.
1. Show Them the Money
First, the big one. Regular salary increases, good benefits, and retirement plans are the #1 way to retain your top talent. A recent survey of college grads from LaSalle Network found that 69% of job seekers ranked “compensation” as the number one most important factor in a job. With today’s growing economy and abundance of jobs, your best workers know that there’s always something else out there. If you don’t pay them fairly, they’ll simply go out and find something else.
To put it bluntly, without competitive salaries, the rest of this list is of little help. So if you’re reviewing your retention strategy, start there!
2. Upgrade Your Employee Rewards
Let’s assume your salaries are competitive and your benefits are fair. Yay! Everything should be perfect right? Well, yes and no. Since money is such a powerful tool, it can and should be utilized to push employee retention rates even further. If you want to keep your best employees, you have to show them how valued they are.
Incentivising your workforce is one of the best ways to maintain consistent effort and happy employees. By rewarding good work and extra effort with small, but frequent monetary rewards, you can significantly boost your morale and enhance your company’s culture at the same time.
Visa Virtual gift cards offer an easy, cost-effective way to reward employee milestones and successes with little effort on your end. If you’re thinking of implementing a new rewards program, or making updates to a current one, start here.
3. Talk About Tomorrow
Loyalty only goes so far. Today’s workforce, especially its millennial employees, are much more likely to look elsewhere for work if they don’t see a clear road to advancement. In fact, in a fascinating study from Willis Towers Watson found that the better the employee, the higher the retention risk. Talented people have no reason to stick around at a dead end job, so be sure to lay out a clear career path with achievable goals. A lack of communication can be the kiss of death for your most motivated workers.
4. Be More Flexible
Work life balance is an essential part of a strong employee retention strategy. Telecommuting, flex hours, and other non traditional work schedules can go a long way. According to a study from Owl Labs and TINYpulse, companies that support remote work have a 25 percent lower employee turnover rate than those who do not. Flexibility seems to be the way of the future, and getting a head start on this modern idea could give you an edge over your competition and help you keep your best employees for longer.
Similarly, flexibility in your employee reward program can also impact retention rates. The better the incentives, the more effective your program will be. The best rewards are instant, versatile, and customized. Visa and MasterCard virtual rewards, for example, can be personalized and delivered instantly, while GiftCard PASS allows reward recipients to “shop” fo a gift card that fits their interests.
5. Figure Out What You’re Doing Right
Not everyone is jumping ship, right? Don’t take your long-term employees, or their feedback, for granted. By the time they’re in the exit interview, it’s already too late. Frequent check-ins and employee reviews should be a safe place for employees to provide feedback without fear of repercussions. Simply asking… “what keeps you here?” and “what are three things that you like about your job?” could lead to incredibly valuable insights. And of course, an anonymous survey with enticing incentives can help to get the ball rolling too.
Ready to show your most valuable employees how much they mean to you? We can help you improve your company culture while rewarding your top performers. Let’s talk about building a hassle-free incentives program that makes you, and your employees, happy.
Contact one of our qualified reps today.