3 Ways to Increase Staff Retention

Do you find yourself constantly trying to recruit the best staff? If you often have vacancies and struggle to find the best candidates to fill them, you may feel frustrated with how much time is spent on the recruitment process. One way to resolve this issue is to look at it from a new perspective. Instead of wondering how to attract the best candidates to your vacancies, you could explore how best to retain your existing employees.

Companies with high employee retention rates don’t need to waste time and money continually looking for new team members. When recruitment is no longer an issue, you can spend your time focusing on building your business, knowing you already have a great team working for you.

Why Retaining Staff Matters

Here are some of the benefits to be gained from increasing staff retention in your organisation:

• Finding high-quality candidates for your roles can be challenging.
• The recruitment process is time-consuming and costly.
• Continually training new team members is labour-intensive and eats into your budget.
• Frequent staff changes can cause disruption and changes in the workplace dynamic.
• High staff turnover can impact the reputation of your business.
• Keeping hold of employees enables you to build a team of experienced, knowledgeable staff.
• Productivity levels are likely to be higher when you have team members that are familiar with their role.
• Building a solid team takes some of the pressure off you and enables you to delegate tasks and increase efficiency.

Enhancing staff retention isn't just about improving workplace conditions or offering competitive salaries; it also involves engaging employees in meaningful ways. The same can be said for Not-For-Profit organisations too, and implementing a robust volunteer engagement strategy can significantly contribute to this goal. In either scenario, fostering a sense of purpose and belonging is crucial, which in turn, can lead to increased loyalty and a lower turnover rate.

How to Increase Staff Retention

Take a look at some of the practical methods you can implement to boost employee retention:

1. Treat Staff Fairly

Employees who feel disgruntled by how they are treated in the workplace are unlikely to stick around for long. Treating your team with respect and fairness is vital to prevent team members from leaving due to your management techniques. When you create a workplace where everyone is treated fairly, your team is more likely to want to stay working with you and positively represent your company.

2. Offer Progression Opportunities

If you want to retain your employees for the long term, you will need to provide opportunities for your staff to progress. Your most ambitious employees may also be your most dedicated and hardest working, but they will likely leave if you have few progression and development opportunities.

Offering training opportunities and the chance to develop their career should encourage your best employees to grow with your business rather than to seek promotion elsewhere.

3. Provide Feedback

When employees do not feel that their hard work is appreciated, they are less likely to keep working productively. When you show appreciation and provide feedback to team members, it can help increase motivation levels and make them feel positive about their role.

Creating a positive work environment where every employee’s efforts are recognised is an excellent way to help increase employee retention. Retaining employees enables you to build a strong team around you to help you progress your business further and build a successful future.

Image by Ronald Carreño from Pixabay