Staff retention is an evergreen issue for businesses.
Employee turnover can cost a lot of money when it comes to skilled staff, and also present difficulties if you are losing said staff to competition. If you are experiencing unusually high employee turnover at the moment, you will naturally want to address it sooner rather than later ? but where exactly should you be looking to improve?
Refine the Onboarding Experience
While many companies would rightly look first to company and department culture when experiencing increased staff turnover, there is a crucial part of any employee’s journey with a company that could be having a much stronger impact on decisions to leave: onboarding.
According to recent research from HR software specialists MHR, an inadequate onboarding experience is responsible 10% of employee resignations within six months of being hired. Further to that, MHR’s research identified that 55% of organisations do not even measure the effectiveness of their own onboarding processes ? something which could lead to significant dysfunction if left unchecked.
Onboarding is a holistic process that requires input and action from a variety of departments, from the institution of payroll to proper induction to the role and its day-to-day duties. Simple provisions can go a long way to improving the onboarding process, from guaranteeing a comprehensive handover programme to the use of an ‘induction day’ to familiarise new employees with the business, their department and their role.
You could also assign a mentor to new employees ? a provision with a positive impact on employee performance, as MHR found that 77% of mentored employees hit their performance targets.
Revise Your Offerings to Employees
Of course, a robust onboarding process can only do so much for an employee’s longevity in a business ? especially where issues relating to compensation, perks and benefits come into the equation. Times are hard for workers across the country, in spite of an unusually healthy jobs market. As such, skilled employees are less afraid than ever to ‘trade up’ for better-remunerated positions in other companies ? or even other industries entirely.
A vital way to retain staff in this case is to properly review your offerings in terms of perks, bonuses, benefits and indeed pay. For starters, there are some modern conveniences for which many workers are willing to switch careers; remote working has significantly increased in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated it was possible. Today, businesses that are steadfast in bringing workers back to the office are suffering, as workers increasingly prefer hybrid arrangements and the flexibility they provide.
Provide Growth and Development Opportunities
Lastly, one of the best ways to foster a healthy, long-lasting and cohesive team is to ensure that there are development and growth opportunities in place and well-advertised. Employees are reckoning more actively with their futures, and if they believe themselves to be blocked-off from progression they will seek that progression elsewhere.
There are a number of ways you can achieve this. Offering bespoke training to your staff can help them skill up for more advanced roles, while internal hiring strategies can ensure you are investing well in the talents of your existing staff pool.
