There’s a lot of effort put into trying to attract new employees via PERM advertising, but equally important is making sure you are able to keep them. This isn’t just about convenience, but the long-term health of your business. Many managers across a variety of fields agree that having long-term employees help with better customer satisfaction, increased product sales, happier coworkers, and generally stronger organization. So, with this in mind, here’s what it takes to keep those top employees around.
Retention Explained
Before getting into the core details of employee retention, we should talk about the general stakes involved. Say that you lose a middle manager, even for reasons that were out of your control. Your organization is now on the hook for 100% of that salary. It may sound odd but there are a lot of expenses involved, like lost revenue from what that employee brings to the table. These expenses also include creating new immigration ads, hiring and training the replacement. The higher up the chain of command, the more costly a loss is.
For example, if you were to lose a person in a senior position, you may need supplemental help along with any employment advertising you create. This generally includes bringing on a headhunter with experience in this area. A proper trained and respected headhunter can cost you as much as a third of the annual salary of the position you are looking for. When we start looking at six figures, this can be extremely costly.
So, with that in mind, it’s essential to use every resource at your command to figure out where you can improve in employee retention. There are a lot of options on hand to use for this, but perhaps the most effective one is exit interviews. Departing employees, for whatever reason, can provide a lot of valuable information used to help hold on to other staff. It’s difficult to find data as useful and relevant as this.
Along with this, you want to conduct what’s called “stay” interviews. These can help figure out why the employees who remain with your company opt to do so. With these twin sources of information, you can calculate exactly what it takes to retain the top employees and keep them happy.
Improving Your Retention
With the stage set, we can now start talking about practical advice for retaining your top employees. There are a lot of different things you can do, and depending on the needs of your employees, the job market, and your niche, some may be a better fit than others. They’re all worth your consideration, though.
One good place to start is making sure that your employees fully understand what you expect from them at all times. Many management experts believe that one of the worst things you can do as a boss is have a constant string of shifting objectives. This makes it difficult for employees to succeed and causes unneeded stress. The best thing you can do to counter this is put together a proper framework where everyone knows what their job duties are. This should account for additional delegation, like if one team member is ill or an emergency work situation appears.
If it seems like we’re focusing on management a lot, that’s no accident. Many people can love the work that they do, but still opt to leave a company due to their experiences with managers, supervisors, and other authority figures. Confusing expectations are one example, but a lack of explanation about earning potential, no performance feedback, or feelings that there’s no way to succeed all factor in.
In some cases, though, you may not be aware that your policy or management style is causing employees to feel that way. This is how people get blindsided by an employee leaving even though it’s been something that was in the works for a long time on their end. The best way to avoid this is by making sure there’s a concrete way for your employees to always speak their mind in a greater organization. Do you work to create an environment where feedback is emphasized? What about soliciting ideas? An employee that feels that they can critique and offer suggestions is more likely to stay at a company.
Along with this, it’s a good idea to create an environment where employees feel that their talents or skills are being used, especially outside their general job description. Of course, this requires that you take some time to understand their skills, talents, and experience before utilizing it. However, it all helps. For situations where they are struggling, you can turn this into a retention-boosting opportunity as well. Figure out exactly why they are failing, and make sure they have the tools and training available to repair the issue. Communicating this via permanent labor certification ads is also a nice recruitment booster.
Finally, you need to work hard to create a feeling of fairness at all levels. While some of this is subjective, there are a lot of things businesses do here that could have been avoided. For example, if a new rep on a sales team gets the most potentially successful accounts, longer-term staff members may feel cheated. Salaries, promotion opportunities, the moment one employee feels they are out of reach, they will begin looking for a job they feel will give them an opportunity. So, even if you’re handing out a well-deserved raise, you need to consider the ripple effect it can cause.
As an additional note, let’s say that you’ve done everything right here. An employee still may want to move on, though. Why? Generally, it’s due to a desire to grow and take on new challenges. This is why you want to put growth opportunities front and center so they can feel that their potential could be realized-with your business.
Finally, while you may be in business, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work to try and help your staff feel more appreciated. There are a few levels for this. Simply expressing gratitude is nice, but bonuses, gifts, and monetary rewards for performance are a good way to help put your team at ease.
