Employee Retention: How to Get Your Workers to Stick Around

Having plenty of great employees who love their jobs and look forward to coming to work each day is ideal for any company’s human resources team, but that’s a totally unrealistic expectation for any business.

Right now, the labor market is tight, and reliable employees are difficult to come by and hard to keep.  According to a study done by Future Workplace and Kronos, 87 percent of employers think employee retention is critical to the continuing success of a company–and they’re right.

The equilibrium of maintaining employee satisfaction and decreasing employee resignations is a difficult balancing act to pull off. Good employees are irreplaceable; when a company loses a good employee, they lose someone with deep institutional knowledge of their organization. Client relationships that the employee built over the years may be irrevocably damaged, which can make remaining employees nervous about their future with the company.  

What can a company do to retain their employees and prevent turnover?

Here’s our “Top 10 Talent Retention Tips” that can help:

  1. Fun-size Raises – Many companies provide annual raises, but some employees would rather their salaries be increased more gradually over time. Split raises into mini pay bumps throughout the year.
  2. Give Credit Where Credit’s Due – Everyone likes to be reminded of how important they are and how much their efforts mean to a company. Words of encouragement can go a long way for employees.
  3. Foster an Engaging Ecosystem – Focus on team building and promoting group environments. The more an employee is involved, the more they will be invested in their work.
  4. Don’t Pick Favorites – Singling someone out can put everyone else down. Unify the whole team with respect for everyone. Recognize group achievement over singular events.
  5. No Capes Required – Turn your bosses and managers into something employees can look up to for inspiration and guidance. Managers need the power to lead and become a resource for workers.
  6. Working in Pajamas – According to Intuit.com, 79 percent of full-time workers would like the opportunity to work from home occasionally. Consider letting your employees operate remotely from time to time in an environment where they feel the most comfortable.
  7. Break the Rules! (Sort of) – Let your employees do something unique for a change: bring your dog to work days, sweatpants Fridays, ice cream socials, afterwork get-togethers and more! You can mix up the work week with something everyone can look forward to as an incentive. You don’t have to break the rules to make employees happy, but you can surely bend them on occasion.
  8. Roll with Different Roles – If an employee is interested in a different position within the company, consider making accommodations for them to try it out. Allow workers to get acquainted with multiple aspects of the business and learn from their experiences. Your financial analyst may make for a great marketer.
  9. Be Yourself – A job should not dictate who a person truly is; let employees express themselves at the office. If Joe really likes action figures, let him deck out his cubicle with his $10,000 superhero collection. Having a unique conglomeration of personalities can liven up the office and build stronger relationships between employees.
  10. Seek a Professional – If all else fails, seek a Retention Specialist! These are experts who focus on enhancing employee careers, building reward and recognition programs, and promoting leadership in the workplace. They can help you with that badly needed morale boost.

Happy employees make for a happy office. Frazee Recruiting Consultants can help you find the employees your company needs for the long term. We are experts at pinpointing top talent–just ask the companies we’ve serviced over the past 20 years!