Did you know 65% of employees believe they can find a better job at another company?

Have you noticed an increase in employee turnover at your company? Lack of employee retention can ruin the overall company morale and decrease productivity.

If you’re having trouble retaining employees, then you came to the right place. 

Read on to learn how to improve employee retention.

1. Prioritize Employee Engagement

As part of your employee retention strategy, you should focus on employee engagement. When employees feel disconnected from their peers, it often leads to low morale and prevents them from engaging and performing their best. 

In fact, only about 21% of employees consider themselves engaged, which means disengaged employees end up costing U.S. employers $450 billion in lost productivity annually.  

Once employees reach disengagement, they often start to look for new jobs costing employers money. This will happen regardless of systems in place, it’s part of business. Be sure to have a strategy for addressing an employee’s departure in place to handle situations where someone suddenly quits without proper notice.

If you think lack of employee engagement is one reason your company has low retention rates, you should start by learning more about areas of improvement. One way to learn how to improve engagement is by conducting a survey. 

An employee survey will let you know the areas of improvement and how you can offer employees a more engaging work environment. Once employees feel they have a voice, they will feel more engaged.

2. Don’t Neglect Recognition and Rewards

No matter how big or small their role is, employees want to feel recognized and appreciated. Once employees start to feel overlooked, they will start to look for a company that will make them feel appreciated. 

If you’re wondering why your retention rates are low, ask yourself if you have a strong recognition culture. Having a culture of recognition will allow you to show your appreciation for your employees. 

Employee recognition can happen in several ways. For example, you can offer monetary rewards, social recognition, department recognition, or using a social platform. 

Recognizing your employees for a job well done will not only increase retention but will also increase engagement.

3. Offer Professional Development Opportunities

The main goal of many employees is to move up in a company and grow in their careers. If they feel there is nowhere to go in the company, they will start to look for opportunities elsewhere. 

You can increase your employee retention rates by offering professional development opportunities. For example, rather than looking for external candidates right away, you should focus on filing the positions internally first. 

Employees will know that if they work hard, they will be able to grow within the company. It’s also important to talk to them about their professional goals and help them get there.

Another way to help them grow professionally is by offering certification programs, tuition reimbursement, coaching programs, etc. 

4. Focus On Recruiting Employees 

If you want to know how to retain great employees, you need to start by hiring the right employees. The recruitment process is essential to increase employee retention.

Rather than hiring an employee to fill a position, you should hire someone who will align with the culture. While you might encounter plenty of qualified employees during the search, not all of them will align with your company culture and values. 

To hire the right employees to fill a position, you must recruit outside the box. While education is important, don’t focus on only interviewing candidates who fit a specific background profile, look for candidates outside your recruiting pool. One effective way to do this is to use a career assessment test to determine if candidates possess the hard and soft skills required for a job, you may be surprised to find there are potential recruits with the necessary skills that don’t have an education background that you would expect. By broadening your recruitment parameters, you can find suitable candidates from the most unlikely of places.

5. Company Culture

As we mentioned in previous points, you should hire individuals that align with your company’s culture. However, what if you are not sure what the culture is?

Having a strong company culture will help you recruit talented individuals and also keep the ones you have, allowing you to continue to improve your business growth: this is known as The company culture payback. A defined culture is needed to keep employees happy and productive, and although this may require investment, it will likely have a good return for your business. So if you don’t believe your company has a strong culture, now is the time to build one.

To define a company culture, you need to tie values with your goals. For example, your company values can include a culture of tolerance, inclusivity, excellent customer service, open-door policies, etc.

6. Competitive Salaries and Benefits

Another reason your employee retention rates might be lower than you like might have to do with a lack of competitive salaries and benefits. 

When employees learn they can earn more money for the same job duties at another company, they won’t hesitate to leave. Unfortunately, employees also leave jobs when they don’t have access to basic benefits. 

If you want to improve your employee retention, you should focus on offering competitive salaries. Remember that hiring new employees will also cost you money, so you might also invest it in employee retention. 

The average cost of hiring and onboarding a new employee will set you back $4,000 per employee.

Benefits are also important to retain employees. Most employees expect a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, PTO, and a 401(k).

Check out instant access for ways to improve your benefits and retain employees.

7. Improve Employee Onboarding 

When employees start at a new job, they rely on the onboarding process to give them the foundation to do their job. The onboarding process teaches them about company policies, expectations, and employee resources. 

If the onboarding process lacks the right information, your employees will feel lost when navigating their new roles. Ensure your onboarding includes a comprehensive overview of the company and its resources. 

8. Train Managers and Leaders

Many times an employee will leave a company due to poor management. Employees spend more time reporting to and working with their leadership. 

When they feel their managers lack communication or leadership skills, employees will have no problem looking for a new job. If you want to retain your employees, focus on training and creating strong managers and leaders.

Are You Ready to Improve Employee Retention Rates?

Now that you know how to improve employee retention, you’re ready to take your company to the next level. 

Remember to retain your employees, build employee engagement, focus on the hiring process, and train effective leaders.

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