As a business owner retaining employees can be a challenging and time-consuming task. That’s why in her first article for the firm Trainee HR Adviser Francesca Dixon outlines how to reduce staff turnover and what the advantages and disadvantages of doing so are…
What is meant by employee retention?
Employee retention is your ability to keep productive and talented employees over a longer period of time, reducing staff turnover.
Retention relates to the number of retained employees, measured as the proportion of employees with a specified length of service, expressed as a percentage of the overall workforce. Successful retention relates to the organisations ability to prevent a high turnover.
Monitoring employee turnover and creating a comprehensive employee retention strategy can highlight workforce issues such as dissatisfaction with career progression opportunities. Employers should address any issues that are highlighted to ensure employees do not feel they are ‘pushed’ to seek alternative employment.
Organisations perform most effectively when staff turnover is low as it will reduce the overall cost to an organisation. High turnover can mean an increase in cost through areas such as recruitment, training and can be an extremely time-consuming process. Retaining employees will also maintain valuable talent and knowledge.
What is good employee retention?
Retaining key team members effectively
Effective retention strategies focus on:
- Providing meaningful work to employees
- Recognising staff for good work, and,
- Offering opportunities for career development
You should also ensure that you are maintaining legal compliance in areas such as:
- Pay
- Working conditions, and,
- Flexible working arrangements
How to reduce staff turnover
To reduce staff turnover, you should conduct regular staff surveys to identify areas of dissatisfaction and address concerns promptly. Employees who feel valued are less likely to leave.
Conducting equal pay surveys will ensure that you are compliant with the Equality act 2010 as well as reducing staff turnover.
While offering other benefits such as training, well-being programmes and career progression pathways can significantly enhance loyalty. Offering a healthy work-life balance can demonstrate a commitment to employee welfare and help reduce turnover.
Retention is also about effective communication and clear policies on topics such as grievances and harassment help maintain trust in senior members of staff.
Take all opportunities to improve retention and reduce turnover. For example, exit interviews, can be a fantastic chance to identify areas to build on.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of retention?
Retaining skilled employees generally results in spending less time and money on hiring and training new staff. Giving you more budget to spend on other aspects of your business.
It also tends to produce a more stable and engaged workplace, improving your organisations productivity.
When recruiting new talent, having a high turnover can often act as a red flag. Suggesting that your organisation may have problems with:
- Poor management
- Career progression opportunities, or,
- Poor working conditions
How can we support you?
At Frettens we can assist organisations with retention strategies to reduce overall staff turnover.
A retention strategy is not one dimensional so approaches to retention need to include both short and long-term strategies, incorporating individual and collective initiatives.
Training workshops can be offered to employers who wish to carry out a learning needs analysis for employees. This can identify performance gaps by assessing the existing level or skill, knowledge and attitude currently within an organisation, and what can be implemented to improve these areas.
Frettens offers 360-degree feedback programs to organisation who wish to obtain unbiased feedback on members of the leadership team. This is an effective tool to identify areas where there is room for improvement in order to promote an environment which inspires, motives and supports employees.
To get in touch with a member of our team, call 01202 499255 or by filling out the form. We offer all new clients a free initial chat.
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