by Ben Hoffman, co-founder of CityHUNT
Do you pay attention to your employee retention rate and whether your top employees are happy?
There’s more to a successful business than making top dollar and having satisfied clients. It’s also important for your staff to enjoy their job and remain loyal to the company. If your employees are unhappy and continue to hand in their resignation, it makes it challenging to keep the business moving forward.
Continuously hiring new employees is a huge expense for a company. A 2017 report from Employee Benefit News (EBN) asserts that on average, it will cost the employer 33 percent of the employee’s annual salary to replace his or her position. If a staff member who makes $45,000 a year resigns, you can expect the process to replace him or her to cost approximately $15,000. Imagine the expense if you are continually having to replace team members.
It’s more than the cost of hiring new staff that makes your employee retention rate so important. The constant turnaround also effects the overall atmosphere in the workplace and negatively affects your customers’ perspective of the company.
Because having a strong, loyal team is crucial to an organization’s success, let’s consider ways to improve employee retention.
Do Your Due Diligence When Hiring.
Having a strong team that will stay long-term starts with the hiring process. Hiring the wrong person could mean you will be back at square one with the hiring process in a short amount of time. However, it can also mean the potential to lose your existing team.
Your hiring process is the time to screen candidates to find which one is most suited for your company and the culture established. You want to hire employees who are team players and intend to stay with the company long-term.
Provide the Necessary Training.
Providing necessary to new hires is the best way to strengthen the team and improve employee retention. It can be quite challenging for an employee to be successful at their job if they do not know how to perform it.
Although training staff tends to cost the organization money up front, the benefits down the road will make up for it. The right training not only addresses any weaknesses in an employee, but it will boost their performance and consistency as they implement the new skills they learn.
Facilitate a Positive, Welcoming Atmosphere.
The atmosphere of the office is a critical aspect of employee job satisfaction. A workplace environment that consists of arguing and little work being successfully completed provides a negative, unproductive ambiance that does not promote employee success. Lack of employee success translates into less success for the organization.
Improving the atmosphere could be simply changing the temperature in the office or implementing a casual Friday dress code. Improvements could be more extensive by improving the communication between management and staff. Pay attention to the vibe of the office to see how positive and welcoming the atmosphere is.
Organize Team-Building Events.
Sometimes all your employees need is a bit of excitement and a change of pace to keep them happy. Team-building exercises offer your staff a much-needed break while simultaneously facilitating staff training moments to improve the functionality of the organization.
Team-building exercises encourage teamwork amongst the staff. Each person plays a role in the success of the activity. You begin to learn new characteristics of each employee and what they are capable of doing, all of which can be utilized in the office.
The way to maintain a high employee retention rate is by listening to your employees and developing a positive team culture. Speak to your staff to discover their needs. Whether it be through group meetings or one-on-one discussions, you’ll learn more about improving your employee retention rate by discovering what your current employees need.
Ben Hoffman is co-founder of CityHUNT, an organization that focuses on developing a positive team atmosphere for organizations by encouraging cooperative workplace relationships amongst coworkers. Working with CityHUNT since its conception, Ben recognizes the importance of employee loyalty and wants to help support businesses in retaining staff members long-term.
