Employee retention refers to the various policies and practices which let the employees stick to an organization for a longer period of time. Every organization invests time and money to find a new prospect, make him a corporate ready material and bring him at par with the existing employees. The organization is completely at loss when the employees leave their job once they are fully trained. Employee retention takes into account the various measures taken so that an individual stays in an organization for the maximum period of time.
Most of the employees leave an organization out of frustration and constant friction with their superiors or other team members. In some cases low salary, lack of growth prospects and motivation compel an employee to look for a change. The management must try its best to retain those employees who are really important for the system.
Let’s now look at some statistics to keep in mind while trying to solve retention concerns.
- Some 73% of organizations revamp their onboarding to improve their employee retention. This is the time in which new hires connect with the company, so improving the correlation between their work and the organizational values will help boost employee longevity.
- One third of new hires quit their job after about six months. It’s critical to outline milestones for the new hires to accomplish. Without these goals to help cultivate new employees, it’s easy for them to become under-challenged or overwhelmed.
- Nearly four out of five (78%) of business leaders rank employee retention as important or urgent. With the cost of employee turnover and the benefits of retaining well-trained employees, making sure new hires don’t leave is one of leaders’ top concerns.
- Remote workers are 50% less likely to quit. Employees who telecommute are typically more satisfied with their jobs, so it makes sense they’d be less likely to quit because they’re able to work at their own pace, in an environment they’re comfortable in. This makes remote work options a powerful way for companies to retain employees.
- One third (33%) of employees knew whether they would stay with their company long-term after their first week. Your company’s first impression is incredibly important. You need to engage them early and often with a specific strategy and goal in mind.
- Some 35% of employees will start looking for a job if they don’t receive a pay raise in the next 12 months. But if you’ve onboarded new hires well, created a connection between their role in the company and the overall values, this might not be as much of a problem as you’d expect.
You go to considerable trouble and expense to identify, interview, and hire great employees for your organization. So retaining them should also be a top priority. Luckily, most good retention practices are inexpensive to implement.
To understand how to retain good employees, you first need to know what they’re looking for. Today, the best employees want:
- Career development opportunities and a chance to grow in their chosen field;
- Regular feedback on how both they and the company are doing;
- Flexible work schedules that recognize their need for work/life balance;
- Benefits tailored to their individual needs.
Now let’s see how tweaking some of your employment practices can have a big impact on employee retention:
- Recruitment and hiring. When there’s a good match between employees and your organization, retention is less likely to be an issue. Culture-fit is often overlooked in the onboarding; it will have an important impact on Retention.
- Orientation and onboarding. Treating employees right in the critical early stages of employment has been proven to enhance retention.
- Training and development. Training and development are key factors in helping employees grow with your company and stay marketable in their field.
- Internal communication. Effective communication can help ensure that employees to want to stay with your company. Employees need to know and be reminded on a regular basis how the organization is doing and what they can do to help.
- Performance evaluation. When employees know what they’re doing well and where they need to improve, both they and your organization benefit.
This article was originally published at mywoobe.com
