There is a lot written about retaining employees due to the financial costs of turnover.
You’ve read them or heard a motivational speaker tell you about it. We all want low turnover and high employee loyalty. For me, this is not about the money. It is the energy I must expend to bring on a new person. They could be the most qualified person on the planet, but it will still take time and attention to make sure they are set to go and contribute to the team.
So, what can you do to increase employee retention?
We can make a list of how to retain folks, however, there is one thing that I would dare to say is the biggest factor: appreciation.
Everyone hears about when they messed up. Our bosses tell us, our clients will let us know, or the numbers will speak for themselves. To counterbalance this, employees need a sense of appreciation, oftentimes more than you know. Obviously, turnover can come from underappreciated employees. So let me posit this… employee appreciation is actually self-appreciation.
That is right, self-appreciation. Can you put a price on the stress of having to train a new employee? How much is it worth to you to not have to fill out paperwork and explain the waiting period on the 401K? Imagine not creating new email accounts or trying to track down someone’s new address when it’s tax time. All those minutes are being returned to your life. All that energy can now go to your stamp collection or yarn-bombing (not explosive, just cute, look it up). Employee appreciation = personal bliss.
After you are done blissing out, you need a plan to show your employees how much you appreciate yourself – I mean how much you appreciate them… Here are some quick and easy ideas to try:
A gift card. It’s a thoughtful gesture, especially if it’s a gift card to a place that you know your employee loves.
Cookies. Highly recommended but not available in all areas.
Handwritten letters. Just like grandma used to write.
A bonding experience online. My personal fav…
“Zach!” you exclaim, “What bonding experience do you recommend?” You are seriously the best audience ever. Thank you for asking. It makes me feel validated. Nay. Appreciated.
For a fun and engaging bonding experience, I recommend you book some virtual trivia games or online bingo with us. It’s affordable. You can theme the whole event if you want. Go all Harry Potter and have everyone dress up or, if that’s not in your company culture, then get together for some old-school bingo. In an hour you can bond, have fun, and show yourself and your team some appreciation.
March 5th is the official Employee Appreciation Day, but really every day is Employee Appreciation Day. If you want to really enhance your employee retention, you’ll need an employee retention plan.
What is a Retention Plan?
It might be best to create a retention plan in order to keep track of the possible ways to keep your best employees. A retention plan is made up of the actions the company can take to keep its employees. This can be made up from actions mentioned earlier, like rewarding employees after reaching accomplishments or be in larger detail. This can help set a standard for employees and these actions can help lower the turnover rate of the company.
There are Different Ways to Improve Employee Retention
Having retention for your employees is one of the most important things. You can’t run a business without employees, right? If you keep having to hire all those employees, it is going to use a ton more of your energy and resources. You can increase retention by giving your employees responsibility, showing respect, giving benefits, rewarding hard work, being flexible, and creating relationships. These ideas don’t just function for in-office businesses, but they work great with remote employees too!
By giving responsibilities, it shows employees that you trust them. This trust can be developed by providing opportunities for growth and encouraging your employees to better themselves.
A great example of this is setting up further training, courses, or working with them if they wish to receive higher education.
Showing respect and appreciation go hand in hand. By having an environment that the employees feel comfortable and appreciated, it will keep their loyalty higher than if they are in an environment that does not treat them well. As we said, appreciation goes a long way for employees.
An example of this could be events that are meant or used to show appreciation to your employees, like a virtual trivia night. From what I hear, those are a blast!
By giving benefits, short-term or long-term, it allows employees to not need to stress about external aspects of their life, plus it feels as if the company is willing to invest in them as employees and as an integral part of the company.
These benefits could be related to the medical care of your employees or retirement-related options.
Rewarding hardworking employees could be through simple tasks like openly showing appreciation to being an employee of the month. A great way to increase retention and reward your most hardworking employees is by promoting within the company. This shows that you want your employees to grow and develop. By rewarding employees, it can better the bond between employees and management.
Another example of this could be gifting these employees with a gift card or a bonus to keep them motivated and are a great way to reward them.
By being flexible, it can show that the company cares about more than just the work being done, but the mental health of their employees. Sometimes the employees may need a breather after doing fantastically on a project or they have been working on several projects and need a day off. This can help against burnout and keep the quality of work as high as possible.
An example of this could be allowing employees to work from home instead of in the office or using structure to choose when to work as long as they are completing tasks by deadlines.
By creating strong relationships between employees and between managers, it helps the environment be more positive and productive. It is great to create a better sense of being a team, even in virtual environments.
An awesome way to create strong relationships is to help make the environment fun and entertaining. If only there was some sort of virtual event that is fun, entertaining and helps with team bonding. That would be perfect, but alas, I can’t think of one.
The Best Employees Keep Quitting
It is a terrible feeling to see employees leave, especially when they were always super positive and supportive of other employees. The majority of the time, those best employees are overworked and will end up leaving. If they are constantly working on new projects or they are unable to have a slight break in order to get everything done, they are going to be burned out.
Another large reason for employees leaving is that they have really awesome ideas and want to better the company or themselves, but their ideas are consistently being put to the side. They might be lacking the motivation to function at their incredible rate.
The best way to retain those employees is to have that communication with them and if they prove that they are capable of doing anything you ask them to do, you should give them a promotion or at least a new title to show how important they are to the company. It’s always great to see employees work their way to the top and being able to watch them grow and develop into fantastic employees.
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Thank you for reading, we appreciate you!
