It may be cliche, but employees are truly the most valuable asset that any company harnesses in its tool belt. Sure, conducting business in an impressive office space and maintaining state-of-the-art technology are valuable tools to have, but it’s the people that you employ who are utilizing those assets and any other perceivably valuable assets for that matter.
It is important to staff talented and motivated individuals who are excited to come into work everyday. When your team is continuously eager to get into the office and takes pride in producing work of quality, productivity will flourish and so will your bottom line.
From a financial standpoint, retaining employees is a critical aspect of reducing costs. Hiring and training new employees is both time-consuming and expensive. It is preferred to retain employees that you can trust to be productive and independent rather than being forced to recruit, interview and train new employees. Hiring new employees can be an exciting process, however, the hope is that your business doesn’t become a revolving door and you are only hiring new employees for reasons of expansion. By retaining employees, the cost-savings from training new employees can be astronomical and attention can be focused on growing your business rather than simply performing human resources quality assurance.
Hopefully by now you are beginning to understand the importance of employee retention. But now it is time to shift focus from why it is important to how it can be done. There are many different methods to improving employee retention and so we are going to highlight a few.
Orientation:
After hiring a new employee, hopefully they are eager to get their foot in the door and start producing essential work for your company. However, adjusting to life in a new work environment can be trying at times. Gauging how things work on a daily basis and remembering the names of co-workers in itself can be intimidating, it is like the first day of high school all over again! To alleviate the eminent stress of starting a new job and ensure that this is a seamless transition for all parties, have your new employees shadow an experienced team member on their first day or two and welcome them upon arrival. If you want to go above and beyond, welcome your new employees with a welcome kit. A care package of branded merchandise goes a long way towards boosting their morale and their feeling of acceptance in a foreign environment. A welcome kit will leave new employees motivated to give maximum effort for your business knowing that they are cared for on a both a personal and professional level.
Environment:
Another way to improve or maintain employee retention is to create a fun and inclusive working environment. You may be asking yourself what a “fun working environment” entails. Here at Stran, we have jenga, shuffle board, corn hole and basketball all setup for our employees to enjoy during breaks throughout the course of the work day. By creating such a fun and energetic environment, it encourages creative thinking and will improve your company-wide chemistry. After working hard on a project for an extended period of time, it is nice to take a quick break to clear your mind by playing a game like those listed above. Personally, I feel as though when I return to my work that I am more productive and I feel refreshed. Culture is key to creating and maintaining a working environment that your employees want to spend their time in. Even by implementing casual Friday’s your employee morale will increase as it is a reward for working hard all week and making it to the weekend!
Team Building:
Last on the list but certainly not least in importance is team building. Planning events where your team can bond and get to know each other on a personal level is pivotal to the unification that your company should strive to experience. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but a few occasional events and outings will create relaxed social settings for your employees to let their hair down and just be themselves. Listed below are a few recommendations for potential outings for your team.
-Task Oriented Challenges (Escape Room, Problem Solving Activities)
-Group Outings (Sporting Events, Group Lunches)
-Low Stakes Competitions (Company Kickball Tournament, Mini-Golf)
-Health and Wellness Incentives and Programs
The key to retaining employees is giving them a reason to stay. I want you to take a step back and ask yourself why you want to come to work everyday for your current employer. What makes you want to work where you do? Hopefully you’re able to list a number of benefits of working at your current company, every organization is unique and presents its own perks! But when looking to improve employee retention, think culture, think about the little things like welcoming new employees upon arrival as a good first impression will ensure that you establish loyalty from the onset.
In conclusion, there is no black and white set of guidelines that will guarantee employee retention. Employees will come and go for a multitude of reasons, but the key to retention is making it hard to leave and giving your employees a reason to stay, no matter how enticing various other opportunities may be. Create a culture of teamwork and a culture that promotes having fun in the work place. If you can do that, your retention of employees will take care of itself.