We don’t need to tell you twice how costly replacing talent is. As it currently stands, the candidate market is extremely competitive and tight, so it’s crucial to retain your best new (and long-serving) talent to avoid rehiring. It’s more important than ever to think about long-term retention strategies.
Follow our top four strategies to minimise employee turnover:
1. Cultivate a positive company culture
Before your HR department starts implementing initiatives to boost employee morale, it’s important first to address any systemic problems.
Warning signs there could be toxicity within your organisation include:
- An overarching fear of failure
- Fixation on hierarchies
- Mistrust of leadership
- Lack of clear communication
- Evidence of workplace burnout
A toxic culture not only impacts productivity but will soon have your top talent walking out the door. To borrow a phrase from Brad Federman, author and expert consultant on workplace culture, ‘People don’t quit jobs, they quit toxic cultures.’
Take steps to remedy a toxic culture by:
- Seeking and providing honest feedback.
- Considering how your business has adapted to the post-pandemic hybrid model of work.
- Providing greater opportunities for growth.
- Encouraging more cross-department communication and collaboration through secondments.
- Adopting a horizontal workplace hierarchy.
- Actively promote and invest in a mentoring culture.
2. Show Employee Appreciation
While the attention of management may be on putting out spot fires, sometimes a job well done falls through the cracks. Recognising and rewarding employee excellence and positive team attributes are equally important.
Here are a few methods of providing employee recognition beyond a pay rise.
- Make sure the perks and benefits you implement are aligned with staff priorities.
- Promote peer-to-peer recognition through shout-outs and the collective celebration of wins.
- Provide positive one-on-one feedback that is specific.
- Offer regular company-wide rewards or team bonding nights.
- Offer surprise gestures of appreciation.
3. Amplify Employee Engagement
Going to work (whether in the office, remotely, or on the road) should be more than a transactional experience. By cultivating a growth-orientated and collaborative workplace, employees will gain a sense of accomplishment and purpose and feel a sense of belonging to a meaningful community.
4. Promote flexibility and work-life balance
If the great ‘work from home’ adjustment of the pandemic has shown us anything, it is that our employees and colleagues are mere mortals, not machines. Particularly among millennials and Gen Z, flexibility and work-life balance are considered non-negotiable.
Consider discussing the following ideas in your organisation:
- Providing flexible hours and options to work remotely.
- Trialling a 4-day work week to give your staff 24 more hours to recharge before returning to work more productive.
- Establishing wellness initiatives such as lunchtime yoga and meditation or subsidised gym memberships.
Connect with us to find out how Salexo can help implement different employee retention strategies within your organisation, or book a consultation with one of our retention-focused hiring specialists today.
