“A survey by US Bureau of Labor Statistics states that each month in the US, 3 to 4.5 million employees quit their jobs.”
It implies that retaining employees is a significant challenge that organizations face today. Employees tend to leave an organization for various reasons like inadequate salary and benefits, lack of career development opportunities, unhealthy workplace environment, work overload, etc.
A high level of employee turnover in an organization can give rise to performance and productivity issues, lower employee morale, cause revenue loss, etc.
Therefore, organizations must develop effective employee retention strategies to prevent these challenges. This will enable them to build a successful talent pool, improve employee experience, and minimize turnover costs and productivity losses.
This blog outlines effective employee retention strategies and how SAVIOM can help.
1. Significance of employee retention in an organization
The term ‘employee retention’ refers to the capability of a company to retain its high-performing resources and prevent unplanned attrition. Furthermore, it aims to provide a positive work experience for employees while reducing turnover rates.
One major advantage of employee retention is that it minimizes hiring/firing cycles. In addition, it reduces expenses related to recruiting, onboarding, and training new hires.
Furthermore, seasoned employees tend to be more productive and efficient than newly hired ones due to their familiarity with organizational practices and processes. Additionally, companies that retain their talent can prevent the loss of industrial expertise and knowledge that experienced employees possess.
Moreover, organizations known for higher employee retention rates can attract and retain the best talent, leading to better performance, increased productivity, and superior work quality, thereby improving engagement.
Furthermore, when organizations deliver products/services per the client’s expectations, it improves customer experience, enhancing revenue and business profitability.
Given the benefits of employee retention, the following section discusses the best ways to retain employees.
2. 6 effective methods to retain employees
For organizations to retain their people, creating an environment where they are motivated, satisfied, and engaged is essential. This can be achieved by implementing effective retention strategies as follows:
2.1 Align talent acquisition strategy with business objectives
Without an effective recruitment process that aligns with the business’s long-term goals, organizations may struggle to identify and hire the right skills to meet their objectives. Additionally, if there is a mismatch in the skills of new hires, it will lead to disengagement, high turnover, lowered productivity, etc.
Therefore, it is essential to maintain a well-organized talent acquisition strategy. It ensures that the skills of employees hired match the organization’s strategic goals. Moreover, assigning mentors to the recruits will enable them to learn and adapt to the company’s environment quickly and easily. This leads to enhanced employee satisfaction and retention, thereby improving an organization’s success and growth.
2.2 Allocate resources based on interest & competencies
When employees work on assignments that do not match their skills and expertise, it will eventually lead to job dissatisfaction and exit from the organization. For instance, when highly qualified resources are assigned to low-priority tasks, it will lower their morale and disengage them. Likewise, when under-skilled employees are allocated to high-priority work, it will cause stress and burnout.
Therefore, managers must regularly assess and track the skills and other attributes to ensure competent allocation of resources. In addition, employees must be encouraged to choose projects of their interest to improve engagement and productivity, thereby helping organizations retain them for the long haul.
2.3 Offer competitive salaries and benefits
Lattice’s report reveals, “Compensation is the number one driver of employee turnover, with over 55% of employees leaving for jobs with higher compensation.”
When resources are not compensated appropriately, it leads to low morale and engagement, forcing them to leave the organization for better pay. It also results in additional expenses for hiring, onboarding, and training new employees, accompanied by productivity loss during the transition. Additionally, low compensation and high attrition rates affect the firm’s reputation, making it challenging to attract candidates.
Therefore, offering competitive salaries and benefits packages is crucial. It makes employees feel supported and valued for their potential. Further, organizations can offer bonuses, retirement and pension plans, healthcare benefits, etc. This way, organizations can attract top talent, increase retention rates, and have a more stable and productive workforce.
2.4 Develop employee recognition and reward framework
Employees who feel their efforts are not appreciated may leave the organization. So, it is essential for companies to frame a well-thought-out recognition and reward framework to acknowledge employees’ remarkable contributions and motivate them to perform better.
Rewards and recognition methods include incentives, certificates, shoutouts on social media platforms, appreciation of employee achievements through thank-you emails, company-wide events, etc. Additionally, consistent, constructive feedback in performance review phrases helps employees understand their performance gaps and undertake measures to improve themselves. It helps resources feel recognized and respected, preventing them from quitting.
2.5 Invest in training and development programs
“In a recent study, 35% of respondents state that offering training and development programs make an organization attractive to work.”
Investing in training and development programs makes the employees feel their growth and professional advancements are valued and supported by the organization. Training and upskilling programs enable employees to stay up-to-date with the skill demands and emerging trends. For this, organizations must facilitate Individual Development Programs (IDPs) for resources to pursue their interests.
In addition, they can provide blended learning, job rotation, cross-training, shadowing opportunities, peer-to-peer coaching, etc. This helps to diversify employee skills and make them future-ready to take up multi-faceted projects. Furthermore, offering Management Development Programs (MDPs) will enable firms to prepare entry-level and seasoned managers to develop leadership skills. All these measures contribute to increased employee satisfaction and retention.
2.6 Promote better work-life balance
When employees are constantly overworked, it leads to stress, burnout, and unplanned attrition. Therefore, organizations must offer flexible work arrangements to facilitate a better work-life balance. This includes remote and hybrid options, compressed workweeks, flexible work hours, etc. Moreover, encouraging employees to take time off helps improve their mental and physical health.
In addition, offering work-life balance enables employees to pursue their interests and hobbies and spend quality time with family and friends. This way, balancing professional and personal lives will make the employees happier, improving work quality and productivity.
Now that the best ways to retain employees are clear, let’s understand how resource management software can help.
3. How does advanced resource management software help retain employees?
Leveraging futuristic resource management like SAVIOM can help organizations streamline their employee retention strategy.
Here’s how:
- The enterprise-grade tool offers 360-degree visibility of resource attributes like skills, qualifications, experience, availability, etc., that helps in allocating the best-fit resources to projects.
- The competency matrix enables organizations to track skills and implement appropriate training and development programs for employees.
- Real-time BI reports like utilization heatmaps and forecasts vs. actual help managers identify under/overutilization and take appropriate measures. This will enhance resource productivity, optimize the workload, and reduce unplanned attrition.
- The open-seat feature enables managers to publish positions and select resources based on their abilities and interests. This will motivate the employees and increase productivity as they can choose the work based on their interests.
Thus, this is how advanced resource management software can help retain talented employees.
4. Final thoughts
For organizations to succeed, it is essential to retain their top talent. Companies can implement the effective retention strategies mentioned above and combine them with modern resource management software. This will help enhance productivity, engagement, and revenue.
