What is Employee Retention?- Importance, Reasons, Strategy

What is Employee Retention?

Employee retention depicts the different practices and tactics that make the employees stick for a longer period to the organisation.

The organisation trains the employee and invests time in them as a result they are at a loss if the employees leave the job.
Employee retention thus explains the different measures taken by the organisation so that the employees stay for the maximum period.

Reasons why Employees leave

  • Out of frustration
  • Constant friction with their team members or superiors
  • Low salary or lack of motivation
  • Lack of growth aspects
  • Greater responsibility and lower authority
  • Higher work timings
  • Organisational environment

Why is Employee Retention important?

There must be serious efforts taken by the organisation to ensure the learning and growth of the employees so that they can enjoy their work. In today’s scenario, the organisation train their employees and cares about their talented staff. As a result, it becomes their responsibility to know the reason and try to retain them.

Hiring is a difficult process

Nowadays, staffing is a lengthy process that includes a set of steps like preliminary interviews, conduction of tests, personal interviews, references, medical checkups, document verification, etc.

As a result, the right candidates are selected which makes it time-consuming.

The investment made by the organisation to make employees work-ready

Candidates hired are raw and need the training to work in the organisation. However, if the employees leave then the employer has to duplicate his work by following all the steps all over again.

Competitors preference over the organisation

Another reason for employee retention is that their lower satisfaction would encourage them to join the competitors. Also, there is a fear that individuals might leak important facts and policies of the old organisation.

As a result, individuals sign strict documentation to ensure that they do not pass the information or join the competitors.

Familiarity and loyalty

Employee retention works for an organisation that knows the rules, and guidelines, outside and inside of the company. As a result, they can work more efficiently and perform better than freshers giving greater contributions. This is also noticed that the individuals working for longer duration enjoy benefits and think in favour of the organisation.

New individual needs time to adjust

The organisation is all about working together and benefits from the compatibility between the employees. A new individual, however, is difficult to deal with since it takes time to adjust and trust him. Furthermore, he/she might be compared with the old one and other employees always find flaws in her.

Potential employees are a boon to the organisation

Few employees are creative and think about the growth of the company with a never-give-up attitude. Employees with good communication skills add value to the organisation. As a result, it becomes significant for the firm to retain such employees by following any means.

Employee Retention Strategy

Potential employees contribute to the organisation and as a result, they try their best to retain them. However, a company cannot completely stop them from quitting their jobs but can control it by applying various strategies which are as follows:

Career development

Likewise, in today’s scenario, career advancement is a factor noticed by the employees for the long-term career aspect. Therefore a company must focus on opportunities provided to boost employee retention.

Proper delegation of work

An organisation must delegate the responsibilities according to the employee’s interests and specialization. Besides, it becomes the duty of the team leader to make their work less burdensome and enjoyable. Similarly, individuals must learn and gain from the challenging work assigned to them.

Positive organisational environment

An organisational environment is an important factor to be kept in mind. Employees need to strengthen the relationship between them to avoid conflicts during work. As a result, the company must organise informal get-togethers, picnics, activities, etc to encourage reliability among them.

The framework of salary, health benefits and financial wellness

Salary and health care benefits become the major reason why an employee joins the company. Therefore, it must be openly discussed at the time of interviews whether the terms and conditions are acceptable to avoid any confusion.

Healthcare security and financial wellness with an advisory service improve the loyalty of employee retention towards the company.

Hiring the right individual

The organisation must focus on hiring the right candidate since a mismatch in the speciality can make both the employee and the company frustrated. As a result, a track record is checked previously to ensure whether an individual can stick to the company/employee retention or not.

Motivation

Employees feel motivated when appreciated. Recognition and performance appraisals give individuals a zeal to work with more efficiency. Motivation through monetary and non-monetary benefits in employee retention to the organisation.

Flexible guidelines and streamlined communication

Company guidelines must be set in an employee-friendly manner. Likewise, the rules must not be too strict. Few flexibilities like a leave on a certain occasion or a day-two late visits must be allowed to ensure trust and confidence. Therefore, employee retention must feel safe and comfortable by sharing insights to ensure that they are heard.

Benefits

There can be a wide variety of benefits when a business focuses on employee retention which are as follows:

  1. Improved morale
  2. Decreased turnover
  3. Determined company experts
  4. Decreased training and acquisition time
  5. Reduced costs
  6. Enhanced overall productivity

Improved Morale

Motivated employees contribute to the company by working more efficiently. Recognition and appraisal in work increase the loyalty of the individuals making them more thoughtful about the progress of the company. Employees receive a stronger sense of belonging and feel more comfortable.

Decreased turnover

Filling the employees who leave the organisation is a challenging and time-consuming process. However, it is easier for the HR team to retain their previous members by listening to the loops created and fixing them as required. As a result, employee retention is satisfied along with the reduced effort of the organisation.

Determined company experts

Retained employees or satisfied individuals who have worked for longer duration in the company become familiar with the rules, regulations, patterns and strategies to work. Therefore, their experience acts as an advantage because of which employees become internal experts of the company.

Decreased training and acquisition time

New individuals require training which is both costly and challenging to get qualified or reliable candidates. Therefore, employee retention becomes a better option to save costs, time and danger of confidence in the employees.

Reduced costs

Decreasing cost is a straight point concerning the organisation. Finding the right candidates includes steps like interviews, reference checks, tests, document verification etc which are lengthy and may not ensure reliable employees according to the needs of the company. Moreover, their training and time to adjust to the environment also add up to the procedure. Therefore, employee retention is a more suitable option adopted to reduce costs.

Enhanced overall productivity

Once the employees are asked what they want and are fulfilled by the organisation, then they work with greater capacity. Delighted individuals act as an asset or perk to the company making the customers also happy.

Employee Retention Plan

Making employees satisfied is no more entertaining i.e they need to be delighted by their job. An organisation is a diverse place where each individual has different desires and needs which must be taken care of by the employer. Candidates need to be challenged and want excitement from their work. As a result, few retention plans can help in employee retention depending upon the situations:

  •  Mentorship programs
  • Perks
  • Employee compensation
  • Communication and feedback
  • Wellness offerings
  • Annual performance result
  • Work-life balance
  • Dealing with change
  • Acknowledge milestones together
  • Flexible working atmosphere

1. Mentorship Programs

To ensure regular learning and advancement of skills of the employees, an organisation may include mentorship programs. It must be noted that the upliftment of knowledge adds up to the efficiency of workers as well.

2. Perks

Providing or attaching perquisites to the job and targets gives the employee retention motivation to achieve them in the required time. It also shows the concern of the employer towards the employees by providing them with the scope of enjoyment.

3. Employee compensation

An employee must be regularly on time discussing the terms and conditions priorly during the time of the interview. There must not be any loop that creates any type of conflict afterwards.

4. Communication and feedback

Employees should feel comfortable and asked when they want to leave the organisation. Mistakes need to be corrected by the company to ensure that the managers feel a sense of belonging and community.

5. Wellness offerings

The HR team must provide advisory services to the employees on how to use their salary so that the future remains secure. The protective environment encourages them to trust the company.

6. Annual performance result

Recording the performances depicts the deviations of the employees from the desired results. As a result, performance appraisal motivates them to work harder to achieve their targets

7. Work-life balance

Individuals are frustrated while managing their professional and personal lives. Therefore, the company organises certain counselling or interaction sessions along with the HR champion so that they get a work-life balance.

8. Dealing with change

Dynamic environments or changes usually become difficult for the employees to adjust which becomes a reason for their resignations. However, the company must be flexible and make changes that are employee-friendly or give them time to cope with the changes.

9. Acknowledge milestones together

Every small or large achievement celebrated together creates an informal or interactive working enjoyable environment. People feel recognised and happy with the applause.

10. Flexible working atmosphere

Employees’ boundaries and guidelines toforork must be flexible. There must be teamwork with interactions to ensure the trust of employees in team members and the company.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is meant by employee retention?

Employee retention depicts the different practices and tactics that make the employees stick for a longer period to the organisation.

What are the 3 R’s of employee retention?

Employee retention is a critical concern for organizations striving to maintain a stable and productive workforce. To address this challenge effectively, organizations need to focus on the 3 R’s” of employee retention: Respect, Recognize, and Reward.

Why is employee retention so important?

There must be serious efforts taken by the organisation to ensure the learning and growth of the employees so that they can enjoy their work. As a result, it becomes their responsibility to know the reason and try to retain them.

  • Hiring is a difficult process
  • The investment made by the organisation to make employees work-ready
  • Competitors preference over the organisation
  • Familiarity and loyalty
  • New individual needs time to adjust
  • Potential employees are a boon to the organisation

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