4 Simple Steps to Improve Employee Retention

If you're spending all of your time trying to find new employees to fill open roles, but never concentrating on retension, you'll find yourself on a hamster wheel of recruitment.

This article was first published March 2, 2022, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.

The United States is still in the thick of a great resignation, and companies are feeling the strain. A combination of economic factors, the aftermath of a global pandemic, and a workforce with more options than ever has left thousands of companies desperate to find new employees.

Survey Your Employees

The first step is the most obvious one, and yet it’s so overlooked. You can brainstorm a thousand and one retention ideas, implement practices you’re sure will keep employees around, and still be facing a major resignation problem. Why? Because you didn’t ask your employees what they actually needed.

What you think employees want vs. what they actually want aren’t necessarily aligned. Open communication is key to employee retention, and the pandemic made that clearer than ever. Employees may no longer be gathering around a water cooler, but you still need to create avenues for conversations about important company topics.

So before you dive in headfirst with fancy programs or a long list of retention goals, reach out to your employees to see how they’re doing. Do they feel like they fit in at your company? Do they understand the tasks in front of them? Is there something they really wish was a part of your benefits package?

Whether done formally or informally, types of conversations can be really eye-opening and help you keep your workforce satisfied enough to stick around. Furthermore, by asking employees how happy they are in your current role, you’re reminding them that your company actually cares about them and wants them around.

Create a Mentorship Program

A common reason for employees to jump ship is that they feel like they’re career isn’t going anywhere. If someone feels like he or she is staring down a dead end job, it makes sense that they’d look for employment elsewhere.

A mentorship program may be able to help solve that problem. Employees can learn from people who’ve been in their industry longer and troubleshoot any difficulties they’re facing. If employees have resources at their disposal to advance their careers, they’re much more likely to stay with your company. A mentorship program says that you’ve taken an interest in your employees and that you want them to be both satisfied and successful.

It helps them see they’re role in your organization at large and feel like more than just a cog in a machine. Effective mentorship programs may even save you resources on training, since mentors can show new employees the ropes in certain areas. Moreover, you’re empowering more experienced employees to have a role in the next generation of workers, which can help them feel utilized and worthwhile. Newer employees can offer more experienced ones a fresh perspective as well.

Acknowledge Milestones and Achieved Goals

Everyone likes to feel affirmed, and your employees are no different. Make sure to take the time to acknowledge things like five-year milestones or major goals achieved.

This could be as fancy as a reception for employees who have worked with you for ten years, or as simple as a shout out in the companywide newsletter when an employee really knocks something out of the park. Again, it’s about making people feel seen, heard, and understood.

If the only time you’re really communicating with your employees about how well they’re doing is during an annual performance review, that may no longer be enough. Consider implementing monthly one-on-one meetings instead where you can go over the work employees have been doing and make space to congratulate them on a job well done. You could also think about having some type of perk, like extra vacation days, a bonus, or a sabbatical once employees reach a particularly impressive milestone (ie., every five years).

Put People First

Lastly, make a commitment to put people first. You obviously want your business to be profitable; that’s the point of a business. But many companies are facing an at-times-uncomfortable reckoning with the importance of treating your workers like human beings.

If one of your employees really wants to make it to their daughter’s softball game, what’s your company doing to make sure they can make that happen? If somebody is struggling with an intense pregnancy, are they able to work with your human resources department to complete some of their work on their own schedule? If an employee is struggling with a difficult task, is your first reaction to help them work through it, or do reprimand them for not doing a better job?

No matter how high of a salary a different company is trying to woo them with, employees will always hesitate to leave a company that really cares about them. The overarching idea of putting people before policy is going to go a long way for your company.