Employee retention refers to the processes set by an organization to retain its able workforce. A distinction should be drawn between high-performing employees and laggards, and efforts to retain employees should be targeted at loyal, valuable contributing workforce. Employee turnover is a symptom of deeper problems that have not been addressed, which may include low employee morale, absence of a clear career development path, lack of work recognition, mediocre employee-manager relationships or many other issues. Absence of contentment and commitment to the organization can also cause an employee to withdraw and begin looking for other opportunities. Non-Financial issues do play a role in employee turnover apart from unfair pay package.
In an Organisation, the goal of employers is to decrease employee turnover, thereby decreasing onboarding costs, training costs, recruitment costs and loss of talent and organisational knowledge. By implementing key strategies from important organizational behavior concepts, employers can improve retention rates and decrease the associated costs of high turnover. We list out some of the processes laid out to improve employee retention.
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Compensation Equity and Parity
Employees have to be paid fairly, and with equity to market and comparable peers within the organization. Compensation still ranks highest in an employee’s loyalty towards an organization. The need for a clear structure and communication with regard to compensation and benefits ranks high in an employees need to stay motivated and committed. Equity, both internal and external should also be addressed. Consistency in structure and process with regard to compensation is also important.
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Professional Development
Millennials need to clearly understand the career path that they can chalk out within an organization. The commitment of today’s workforce is waning with increased opportunities, and geographies to explore. The ability to develop professionally and otherwise is an important factor when choosing a place of work.
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Training & Development
Opportunities for training, and an organization’s commitment to developing employees is an important factor in employee motivation leading to retention.
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Culture Fit
Employees identified cultural fit as another key point for their commitment to stay and succeed in an organization. A culture that rewards performance, celebrates and recognizes effort, and maintain a connection with the company’s leaders and its goals and vision, are considered important.
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Constructive Criticism
Creating an environment and process to provide constructive, effective and realistic feedback goes a long way. Process and systems that facilitate positive and constructive feedback help build an organization that promotes continuous learning. It builds commitment and loyalty with employees being recognized for performance and being built for better performance.
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Succession Planning
Identifying high performing & high potential employees early on, and providing a long term carrer plan within the organization help to retain a company’s most valued assets. Providing means for accelerated growth, opportunities for learning critical skills, job shadowing help retain high potential employees as well build a pipeline of talent.
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Culture of confidence
Building a culture of confidence, reposing in employees the trust and freedom to pursue their best within the organization leads to not just a thriving business setup but also retention of best talent.
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Workplace Flexibility
Providing alternate work place arrangements can bolster employee commitment. Different means of working can be worked out according to the industry and company requirements. Clearly defining company expectations help employees to meet goals.
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Employee Loyalty Programs
Simple and even elaborate and structured employee loyalty programs are effective in retaining employees. An assortment of loyalty and benefit schemes are available for employees, with not just cost but creativity in focus. These include freebies, lunch with management leaders, access to memberships, seminars to even a hand written thank you note.
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Performance Management
A structured, consistent performance management process is critical to create a culture that rewards and recognizes good performance. Employee satisfaction is directly linked to a stable process where mutually agreed upon goals and expectations are written down, consistently reviewed, evaluated, laying down a foundation for rewards and recognition.
