High employee turnover can be particularly draining for businesses. Not only is there the time and money required to fill vacancies, but this also has a direct impact on the morale of your current team due to the increased workload. Rather than always needing to fill vacancies, check out our 4 ways to improve retention and strengthen your team:
1. Build a Culture of Connection
As the saying goes, people don't just leave their jobs. They leave bad bosses and unfulfilling roles. In order to foster a sense of purpose, it’s important to create opportunities in which employees can interact and better visualize their own place within the larger team. Consider any team members who have limited interactions with the rest of the company and find ways they can work with coworkers they typically wouldn’t get to see. This can be through department projects, company events, or even just through quick icebreaker games before lengthy internal meetings. If an employee feels plugged into their company culture they are significantly less likely to leave.
2. Open Up the Conversation
It’s no secret that efficiency and automation have redefined the workplace, and within this, there are plenty of tenured employees working against a learning curve to keep up with fast-moving trends. A simple method for combating burnout and uncertainty is to give employees an opportunity to provide professional feedback. This can be through internal anonymous employee surveys, consistent one-on-one time with their direct manager, or exit interviews. By giving space for employees to feel heard, employers can improve reputation management and also retain employees by demonstrating that their feedback is valuable.
3. Recognition (In Public and Private)
Every employee wants to feel they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. While recognition is important, it is also a matter of identifying what type of recognition best motivates each individual team member. This is a great opportunity to utilize regularly scheduled employee surveys as mentioned, or additionally, this can be incorporated into performance reviews so that employees feel they are supported. This allows leadership to gauge how to get the best performance out of your team members and adapt accordingly. In terms of implementation, recognition does not have to be expensive: it can come in the form of internal awards, words of affirmation, or additional employee perks such as reserved parking!
4. Create Growth Opportunities
While not every employee will be motivated by upward mobility, your best team members will consider opportunities to grow their skill sets. This can be traditional growth in the form of promotions, but in lieu of this, you can get creative with different responsibilities within the company that may be of interest to a promising hire. For example, if you have someone who enjoys writing consider involving them in social media copy or company newsletters. If a team member has shown interest in company culture, they can get involved in internal events and employee engagement.
By implementing these tools, you will immediately notice a positive difference in your employee retention. Subscribe to the Zimmer Communications blog below for even more tips on company culture and recruitment!