Employees are always looking for better opportunities, particularly in rapidly-growing industries. A phenomenon known as employee poaching (or employee raiding) sees competing firms ‘stealing’ your employees with high-demand skills in exchange for higher salaries and benefits. Then, there is the fact that most employees are not always happy with their current jobs due to a terrible boss, bad coworkers, unrealistic goals, or a combination of them all. The onus is on the HR department to recognize potential triggers that make employees switch to other companies.
Here are five things the HR department can do to improve employee retention.
1) Creating a Positive Workplace Culture
Creating a great workplace culture starts at the recruitment phase. Find those employees whose personalities match your company culture. It is important to pay attention to employees who may be job hoppers. They should have a clear motive for switching jobs such as career advancement. The reason for them to join your company should be similar: they feel their growth with your company.
2) Offering Training Sessions
It is naïve to assume that fresh recruits will know what to do from the get-go. Training is an on-going process that requires constant mentoring and nurturing. Beyond merely hiring employees, you should be willing to help them grow their skills. This may involve sending them to learning centers or providing them with a subsidized membership of e-learning sites. It pays to take your own employees’ education seriously. Not only does it foster loyalty, but it also increases their skills and improves your bottom-line.
3) Providing a Clear Path to Advancement
Along with training, offer your employees promotions as they get more skilled and experienced. Employees should be able to identify a clear path to advancement and where they would stand in the company in a few years from now. Sometimes, simply revising their role and adding the term, ‘senior’ to their existing job title does the trick.
4) Paying the Employees Well
Employees are always at risk of job hopping if someone else offers them a higher salary. It is not unheard of for employees to acquire work experience in an entry level position, only to leave the firm a few months later for a much better pay elsewhere. It may be difficult to offer competitive salary packages to employees, but in hindsight, you will realize that it is more difficult to replace an entry-level employee than to simply have paid them 10 or 20 percent more. This provides the existing employees with enough incentive to refuse outrageous offers such as 50 percent higher salaries.
5) Creating Flexible Working Conditions
Most employees have expressed their interest in jobs that offer flexible working hours. This includes being able to come to work a few hours late, or not appearing at all – this is usually known as casual leaves. Make sure you have a good culture of paid time off that encourages employees to take time to cool off and rejuvenate.
At JS Benefits Group, our consultants can help you assess your company’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to company culture. Click here to get in touch with us for more information.
