Retaining your best employees is one of the primary measures of the health of your organization. It helps ensure customer satisfaction, sales and a satisfied, engaged workforce.
Recent research has revealed that almost half of all employees are open to leaving their jobs, even if they’re satisfied there. In today’s career landscape, millennials are expected to hold between 15 and 20 jobs over the course of their careers. And for all age groups, moving up often means moving on. Coupled with a candidate’s market where skilled workers are in high demand, employee retention should be high on your business radar screen.
Be Employee-Centric
Consider the needs of your employees as you seek to retain them.
- Contribute to their career growth. View your company as a system through which employees are moving, making career progress as they go. Contribute to their growth by providing continuing education and advancement opportunities.
- Offer competitive wages and benefits. Money is not the only draw to working – or staying – at a company, but it does matter. Sixty-five percent of employees in a recent survey cited pay as their most important reason for deciding to leave their jobs. Stay abreast of the local market and make sure your salary ranges are competitive. The same is true for your benefits package. For starters, never underestimate the importance of work/life balance. Thirty-eight percent of employees consider this when deciding whether or not to stay at their current company.
- Make sure expectations are clear. A satisfied employee knows what is expected of them every single day at work. Changing expectations puts people on edge, creates unhealthy stress and makes employees feel unsuccessful. Of course, no job or set of responsibilities ever remains static, but you need to continue providing a specific framework within which people clearly understand what you expect from them.
- Hire or develop quality managers. It’s true: More often than not, people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses. Your managers play a critical role in employee retention. Anything they do to make people feel undervalued contributes to turnover, whether it’s lack of clarity about expectations or earning potential, lack of feedback about performance, or failure to communicate or provide a framework for success.
As you source, hire and retain your winning workforce, let PrideStaff Modesto help you design and implement the right strategic solutions. Contact us today to set up an informational meeting for your senior leadership team.
