The labor market is competitive and fast-moving. The cost of acquiring new talents is also higher than ever. As such, it is important to have a good employee retention program. Keeping your trained employees and top talents is critical for your company’s continuous growth. This article will discuss employee retention further and how to promote it in your organization. 

What Is Employee Retention?

An employee retention program is a collection of strategies and best practices to keep employee turnover low and prevent top talents from leaving. It should be a high priority for your organization’s HR department. Your HR personnel should also be able to recognize subtle signs indicating an employee might be thinking of leaving. This will give you a better chance of identifying ways to promote staff retention and keep high-value employees. 

Why Is Employee Retention Important?

Employee retention is a critical aspect of an organization. According to Gallup, it costs U.S. businesses more than $1 trillion annually to replace employees who voluntarily leave. In most cases, the high turnover could have been avoided with management intervention. A high employee turnover results in low productivity, knowledge loss, and high costs.

What Are the Benefits of Employee Retention?

Businesses are not only competing for customers, but they also need to compete to hire the top talents in the market. Thus, you need a solid retention program to ensure that your company is keeping its top talents. 

There are many benefits to retaining trained employees:

• Reduced cost. You spend hundreds of dollars on recruiting and training new employees. But if those employees keep leaving, you will have to do it all over again and spend more money without getting a return on your investment. 
• Increased productivity. Generally, it takes time before a new employee can get to the level of productivity of seasoned employees. Retaining experienced employees will positively affect your company’s productivity. Companies with high retention rates tend to have more engaged and productive employees.
• Improved team morale. When your company has high retention rates, the employees are also confident in the organization. It fosters an environment with great connectedness and engagement. 
• Employee satisfaction. High retention rates indicate that the company is doing good for its employees. When the employees feel happy and fulfilled in their roles, they also bring commitment and engagement.

Drivers of Employee Retention and Turnover

You can only build a good employee retention program if you understand your employees’ needs. What makes employees stay? What makes them leave? In general, employees will remain in the company if they feel valued and there’s a good working environment. On the other hand, toxic working environments and the feeling of being unappreciated are some of the reasons employees resign. 

Why Do Employees Leave?

There are various reasons why employees leave a company – from personal to financial reasons. Some people leave because of family issues, health reasons, or career changes. Some look for opportunities elsewhere, going to a company with better pay and benefits and a good work-life balance. 

Why Do Employees Stay?

Employees feel motivated to work for a company that offers proper recognition, competitive pay, and excellent benefits. Likewise, people will stay in the company if they think they belong and their work is appreciated. The availability of career growth opportunities is another motivating factor for employees to stay.

How to Retain Employees? The Best Employee Retention Strategies

There are ways to improve your company’s employee retention program. Here are some steps to follow:

• Create a solid onboarding process. Design and implement an onboarding process where the new hires can immerse themselves in the company culture and environment immediately. 
• Be transparent. Clear communication fosters a transparent work environment where the company and employees understand the organization’s visions and goals.
• Conduct in-depth training. Providing valuable training to help employees improve their skills is one sure way to make people stay. 
• Provide recognition and rewards. People are bound to do a good job even without rewards and recognition, especially if they are happy in the workplace. However, taking the time to recognize and reward good performance will make employees feel that the management gives importance to what they do. 
• Offer competitive salaries and benefits. People stay if they believe that they are properly compensated for the job they are doing. 

How Kilpatrick Can Help Companies Promote Employee Retention

Need help with your company’s employee retention program? Kilpatrick Executive can help. We offer top-notch HR services and solutions to increase employee engagement and promote staff retention. Contact one of our consultants today to discuss your HR challenges.