14 Effective Employee Retention Strategies

As the world recovers from Covid 19 and the Great Resignation, research shows that many workers remain confident about their prospects in the current hiring market. For employers, this means a few things;

1. When bringing on new talent, you need to identify candidates who will not only perform but be happy and aligned within your corporate culture.

2. For your existing base of employees  - understanding their job satisfaction and motivators are key to keeping your existing staff engaged and growing 

3. A large focus needs to be put on employee retention strategies to ensure you de-risk top performers walking out.

How individual companies retain top talent depends largely on understanding what drives their employees job satisfaction. Now is the time to engage with your base of employees and understand what you are doing right to support the retention of high valued talent. First you need to understand why your employees might be looking for new opportunities – and review those employees who have already given their resignations. 

Why are your workers Quitting?

Exit Interviews can provide invaluable insight into the employee perspective of your business and help determine whether areas in which you employee retention strategies need improvement.

More than likely, you’ll hear the departing employee cite one or more of the following reasons for leaving their job:

• A need for better work life balance, or more freedom and autonomy around WFH/Hybrid schedules 

• Inadequate Salary – The labour market changed greatly during Covid 19, and workers are taking advantage of the demand for great talent

• Lack of support and training during onboarding, resulting in frustrations around day to day work

• Perks and Benefits packages are greater elsewhere and more aligned to their individual needs 

• Unhappiness with management, and a dissatisfaction with company culture

• Feeling overworked and or under supported with a lack of recognition 

• Limited career advancement opportunities, and not enough employee personal development 

• A desire to make a change, and more compelling job opportunities at other companies. 

Employee retention strategies for job satisfaction

Although some industries and regions may have a job market that is more favorable to employers, job seekers with in-demand skills may not struggle to find new opportunities. Despite the pandemic, several companies have continued to recruit new talent, and many have even increased their hiring efforts in recent months.

If you feel that your company is at risk of losing its top performers, it's crucial to take quick action to strengthen your employee retention strategies. To boost job satisfaction and retain valuable workers, consider implementing deliberate measures in these 14 areas:

     1. Onboarding and orientation

Every new hire should be set up for success from the Onset. Your onboarding and training process should teach new hires not only about the job but also about the company culture and how they can contribute to and thrive in it. This critical first step is often overlooked, but the training you provide from day one either in person or a virtual setting can really set the tone for the entirety of the employee lifecycle with your company. 

2. Work-life balance

This is a critical component in todays day and age, and leaders actions and expectations really send home messages to your employees. Do you expect your staff to be available 24/7, how do you manage you time with them directly? A healthy work life balance is essential to job satisfaction. Employees need to know their managers understand that they have lives outside of work, and recognize that maintaining this delicate balance is even more challenging when working from home. As leaders, we need to not only encourage employees to set boundaries, but also take their well earned vacation time – and all of it! Time to unplug and unwind often lead to greater performance when coming back to the office, as well as a fresh look at what they were working on before vacation. If a late night here and there are necessary to wrap up a project or meet a deadline – consider giving them extra time off the following day to compensate those efforts and their dedication to achieving the goal. 

     3. Training and development

Aside from onboarding and initial training, as part of your employee retention program you should be providing continuous feedback on performance, and coaching opportunities to continue to develop and refine your employees’ skills and teach new skills. Upskilling employees is especially important in today’s day and age as technology advancements, AI, etc. continue to change and develop how we work. When we invest in our employees and provide further education opportunities, they gain abilities and skills that go over and above their current expectations. Another opportunity for employee development is to give them time to attend virtual conferences and events related to your industry. Not only do they get to learn in a new environment, but they can also network with like minded peers, and prospects. 

4. Flexible work arrangements

Covid 19 changed the world and its view on work from home/remote work, and while many companies have re-opened their offices, employees have now gotten used to the freedom associated with remote work. Multiple studies have proven that not only did performance maintain or improve with the shift to remote work, but teams can and will function even being disbursed. A majority of employees still prefer to work remote, with options to attend in person meetings, team get together and other important meetings on site. Not having a flexible work option for employees, or mandating return to office can spur employees to resign. 

If permanent work from home isn’t an option for your company, you should explore hybrid models, or flexible on site staffing models which allow employees to choose what days work best for them to be in office. All of this can help relieve stress from your team, and ultimately boost employee satisfaction and retention. 

     5. Mentorship programs

Mentorship programs are a valuable addition to your extended onboarding process, particularly in a remote work setting. Pairing a new employee with a mentor can help welcome them into the company, provide guidance, and serve as a sounding board. This mutually beneficial relationship allows new team members to learn from experienced employees while also offering fresh perspectives to their mentors. However, mentorship opportunities should not be exclusive to new employees; existing staff members can also benefit from these relationships, leading to improved employee retention and job satisfaction overall. 

     6. Employee compensation

For all companies, providing competitive compensation to their employees is crucial, requiring employers to frequently evaluate and adjust salaries as market demand and role expectations change. If you are unable to increase pay at the moment, consider offering alternative forms of compensation, such as additional flexibility within hybrid schedules, preferred shifts, perks and benefits, extra vacaction and bonuses. Improving health care benefits and retirement plans can also contribute to an increase in employee job satisfaction.

     7. Continuous feedback on performance

Weekly or bi-weekly performance reviews are becoming more and more popular as opposed to traditional annual reviews. Within these one on one meetings, its important to not just focus on the individuals performance, but also their short and long term professional goals. As leaders, you have a profound impact on your employees lifecycle, deliver constructive and measurable coaching and feedback and co-create an action plan to increase performance or certain behaviours. Its important for direct reports to feel as though they created this plan along side you, and it can them visualize their future with your company. Its important to share up coming openings, or potential advancement opportunities that are coming available as well as helping map out realistic plans to reach those goals. 

     8. Perks

Perks available to your staff can really make your company stand out to potential new candidates and new hires as well as re-engage your tenured staff, all while boosting morale. According to research, flexible schedules and remote work options are the perks many professionals value most. In addition, just over 40 percent of the professionals surveyed said stipends for home offices are among the perks workers want most. Think outside the box here, and get creative on how you can sweeten the deal for your employees 

9. Recognition and rewards systems

Rewards and recognition go a long way, and every person wants to feel appreciated for the work they do, gratitude and recognition can make a big impact especially in todays work from anywhere workforce. Be sure to incorporate thank you, shout outs and celebrations for direct reports that go above and beyond and explain how their effort and hard work helps the organization as a whole. For some large companies, they opt to create a formal reward system based on hitting certain metrics, achieving sales goals, sharing a new process or idea to incentivize great ideas and innovations, but if your team is smaller, or has a limited budget a recognition program will work just as well. Having peers and others within the company seeing their dedication and hard work, not only opens door for future advancement within the company but also shows their dedication to the company. 

     10. Wellness offerings

During the pandemic many companies improved and expanded on their wellness offerings to help support employees and prioritize well being. Keeping employees fit, mentally, physically and financially is just a good practice to have. Some examples of what your company many consider providing to your employee base include – remote therapy access, retirement planning, investments planning, health fitness membership discounts or reimbursement and beyond. 

Companies that focus on employees stress management and resilience have seen improved employee satisfaction and overall tenure. 

     11. Communication

The transformation that occurred across the globe in the last two years has really put an emphasis on the importance of good communication at the work place. Team who were once sitting sit by side in the office are now spread across the world. Its imperative for managers to have a great relationship with direct reports, and they should feel comfortable that they can come to you with new ideas, questions or overall concerns at any time. As leaders, we need to make sure we are doing our part not only respond in a timely fashion, but also encourage open and consistent communication through the organization. Constructive and positive communication across not only teams, but entire organizations are key. Have each of your leaders proactively connect with each of their team members on a regular basis – and I’m not just talking about weekly performance reviews. Make sure leaders get a sense of their teams’ workloads, job satisfaction, but also how they are on a personal level. You never know what someone is going through that can impact their day to day. 

     12. Effective change management

As we learned during the pandemic, every company has to deal with change, and some come more drastically than others – good or bad. Employees look to leadership teams for insight and direction and above all else reassurance during times like this. Stress and anxiety typically spikes with any change, let alone big ones so keeping your team as up to date and informed as possible helps relieve this. Being open and transparent about the change process is extremely helpful and doesn’t allow the rumor mill to take over. As a best practice, big announcements and changes should be addressed in advance, and can be done as a whole company, by department or individually as needed. Allow time for questions and answers and provide your employees with something to reference back to, in order to understand timelines, goals, and objectives. As always with any change understand there is a transition period, and that things might not go 100% to plan – that’s okay as long as you work as a team. 

     13. An emphasis on teamwork

The old saying “teamwork makes the dream work” is a great one. All employees should be encouraged to not just be top performers, but to also contribute ideas and solutions, and help fellow team members where they can. By promoting teamwork and opportunities for individual employees to collaborate, you can uncover hidden strengths amongst your team, you can learn different individuals work styles, and give everyone an opinion to make decisions and course correct when needed. Every employees voice should be heard, and shared. That is how we learn and grow. 

     14. Acknowledgement of milestones, big and small

A final, and easy tip to promote employee satisfaction and retention is to celebrate the achievements of milestones, no matter how big or how small. This can be as simple as celebrating employee tenure, or reaching an anniversary, to finishing a large project ahead of a deadline. Seize every opportunity you can to celebrate your team and mark a milestone together. Virtual shout outs, social media posts, or even messages on internal communication channels are a meaningful way to create a memorable moment for everyone. 

The 15 employee retention strategies above are just some of the ways you can help your teams increase job satisfaction, just remember to re-evaluate your efforts on a regular basis and always be on the look out for new ways to drive employee tenure. Stay up to date and current on market trends, salaries, benefits and best practices to continue to develop an attractive company culture and stronger relationships with your employees. 

We aren’t saying attrition wont happen, but you can make their decision a little tougher when thinking about finding a new role. And when employees do leave but were fulfilled, felt valued and appreciated – they can be your biggest recruitment support by spreading the word about their time with your company, and often will apply back for other roles in the future.