Retaining employees is going to be one of the single most important aspects of doing business over the next few years. The main reason for retaining employees is important is obviously that you’ve invested a lot into your current employees and that turnover can cost you as much as thirty percent of an employee’s annual salary – more if they’ve got serious tenure. But another reason retaining employees matters is that there will soon be far fewer of them. Baby boomers are set to start retiring, and their numbers approach seventy six million. Compare that to the forty four million ‘generation X’ workers out there, and you’ll see the importance of retaining employees immediately.
Retaining employees is basically about making them happy and keeping them satisfied. There are a number of different aspects to retaining employees, some fairly surprising. Eighty eight percent of employees leave their jobs for reasons that have nothing to do with pay despite the fact that seventy percent of managers believe that pay is exactly the reason they leave. While fair pay and good benefits will certainly help with retaining employees, it certainly isn’t the only aspect that matters when trying to improve your ability at retaining employees.
First of all, companies that lack good skills for retaining employees often experience turnover because employees feel that they aren’t valued in the workplace. If you want to improve your chances at retaining employees, you need to make them feel like they’re part of the team. Surprisingly enough one of the best ways to do this is through employee training. By doing this, you’ll help them feel like you value them since you’re expending the effort to improve their skills. They’ll feel better about themselves and work harder for your company. And best of all, you’ll benefit from more skilled employees as well as an increase in retaining employees.
Another difficulty in retaining employees that some companies experience comes in their managers. Great employees want to work for a leader, not a boss, and a lack of retaining employees is often due to a lack of trust between employees and their superiors. You not only want to ensure that your managers are excellent, but also that they can relate well to your employees. Without this important dynamic, retaining employees will be difficult. A lack of feedback is another reason you could be having trouble retaining employees, so take the time to monitor progress and praise or critique when needed.
One last thing about pay that’s important to remember. While not the most important aspect to retaining employees, it is still important. Take the time to ensure that your new hires aren’t being paid more than your current ones due to inflation or changes in the market place. This is actually the case four percent of the time, and is a serious issue. Retaining employees is an art that you’ll learn over time, and one that is vital to the success of a company. Software can help you with retaining employees by allowing you to track their progress, schedule meetings, and more. Unicorn HRO offers software solutions that are designed to assist you with retaining employees and can improve your abilities at it.
