Without a doubt, retaining top talent is more challenging than one can imagine. However, there’s a successful solution: prioritizing employee engagement. While there is no magic pill for reducing turnover, understanding your employees' needs and drafting a strategy to meet them can significantly improve retention. With proper engagement practices in place, employees find fulfillment in their work, build strong connections with colleagues, and are far less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.
In this blog, we have shared strategies, tips, and tricks to improve employee engagement and retention.
Employee retention is the ability of your organization to maintain a low turnover rate. In simple words, it refers to fewer employees leaving your company for opportunities at other organizations. In the past, employee retention meant offering your workforce competitive compensation and benefits and all the necessary tools for performing well. But the understanding of drivers of employee turnover has evolved, and so have the strategies to retain top talent.
Now, an employee’s workplace experience has direct reflection on retention. Employee engagement is at the heart of this, as employees who are engaged are more inclined to stay with your company and contribute to fostering a positive company culture.
You might be wondering why employee retention matters. Besides promoting a strong company culture, there are numerous other benefits for your business and employees.
- It saves time and resources. With low turnover, your organization will not have to invest in recruitment and training replacements
- Have experienced employees available. These employees will contribute significantly to your business's growth and will play an essential role in mentoring new hires
- Promote strong employee relationships. The staff who collaborate with each other build solid professional relationships. A team that is invested in peers’ success are highly engaged and contributes to a positive company culture
- It enhances the experience for new hires and makes settling into their roles easy. Seeing other employees staying in the company for long indicates that there are ample opportunities for growth and development
We can say that employee retention is a reliable measure of how well employees are performing in your organization. It will also help determine if you need to provide additional perks or incentives to boost engagement.
Understanding the importance of employee retention and engagement was the first step. Now, you should consider implementing the following strategies to enhance both. You might also find it helpful to explore employee engagement survey providers to help attract and retain the best candidates for your organization.
How to improve employee engagement and retention? If you are thinking about it, then you are not alone. We know that employee engagement is a powerful tool through which you can increase retention in the workplace. When employees are engaged, they have a sense of belonging and purpose, which can dramatically increase their desire to stay with the company.
You can improve retention rates by creating a strategy based on the four pillars of employee retention: well-being, company culture, training and development, and recognition. Here are nine strategies to boost employee engagement and, consequently, improve retention:
Positive Company Culture
A key employee retention strategy is having a work culture that your employees want to be a part of. There is no doubt that culture plays a vital role in an employee’s decision to stay in a company. It is important to ensure your workplace is inclusive and diverse for members of all communities. A company that respects people from all backgrounds, races, and genders and makes them feel safe and welcome will have low turnover rates.
Moreover, a strong company culture goes hand in hand with an effective onboarding process. Proving a clear understanding of your organization’s structure helps new recruits know whom to approach if they have questions. This will promote trust in the environment and will make everyone feel supported and comfortable.
Promote Mentorship Opportunities
A common mistake companies make is not investing in learning and development. Employees need to know your company is committed to providing opportunities for their staff's growth. A mentorship program is an effective way to cultivate employees and engage the entire workforce. Through a mentorship program, an employee can get personalized feedback and guidance that will help them achieve their objectives. It will also help strengthen connections within your workforce.
Improving Work-Life Balance Of Employees
One thing that companies need to understand is that no employee wants to be in work-mode all the time. If you wish to retain employees, it is essential to prioritize work-life balance. A significant number of individuals would rather accept a reduction in salary to work in a less stressful environment than remain in a position that doesn’t provide any downtime.
You should monitor the workload to ensure all the employees are given the appropriate amount of work every day, allowing them to have personal time as well. It will be helpful if you train managers to keep a close eye on the workloads and be aware when team members become overwhelmed.
Communication is the key to this process. If the team leads and managers communicate well with their team members, they will be able to identify dissatisfied employees and plan schedules smoothly to meet deadlines without causing disruption.
Make Your Workforce Feel Valued
What motivates an employee? Employees need feedback, acknowledgment, and guidance. Providing feedback centered on employee strengths will help establish a communication channel with managers that assists in keeping employees occupied in their work.
However, without regular feedback and appreciation, team members will feel disorientated and disconnected. Employees may feel underappreciated if the managers only communicate when something goes wrong. So, it is necessary to educate your managers to offer regular recognition and feedback. This approach fosters a positive work environment and helps retain valuable employees.
Onboarding
Onboarding a new employee into your company is as essential as the foundation of a building. Having a comprehensive onboarding program in place will help lay the groundwork for new hires to start on a positive note. It ensures that new employees are comfortable with their responsibilities.
Moreover, to make them feel welcome, you can send an email to announce their arrival to the existing employees. This serves as a notification that a new member has joined the team and aids them in settling in. When you introduce them to their coworkers and outline their responsibilities, you will be setting them up for success.
Provide Relevant Tools And Training
Another key employee retention strategy is to provide training and tools required to keep your workforce engaged. Are you wondering how training contributes to employee retention? Every employee needs the right resources to succeed in the assigned task. Your employees will not stay in the company if they think they are being set up for failure.
Hence, it is essential that managers provide the training resources available for each role in their team. If an employee suggests the need for additional tools or resources to do their job, it is the responsibility of the managers to guide them to the appropriate training programs promptly.
Organizing Company Events
It is no surprise that employee engagement and the quality of employee relationships are interconnected. When team members have a strong relationship, it will lead to a more solid company culture. One effective way to encourage employees to get to know each other is by organizing events. There is a plethora of events that you can hold either monthly, quarterly, or annually, including:
- Holiday parties
- Trivia night
- Lunch
- End-of-quarter celebrations
- Sports games
- Bring your pet to work
There is an array of company event ideas that can strengthen employee engagement and retention strategy. It is not surprising that friendly relationships among team members makes employees stay in their jobs and derive satisfaction from their company’s success.
By implementing the above-mentioned employee engagement and retention strategies, you can create an engaging and inclusive workplace where employees feel valued, heard, and motivated to contribute to the company’s success. This can lead to increased employee retention, reducing the costs and disruption associated with high turnover.
Let’s take a look at some examples of how leading companies have adopted such policies to maintain high levels of retention.
DreamWorks Animation
The first example is DreamWorks Animation. The company offers its employees various perks, such as free refreshments and paid opportunities to personalize their workspaces. They also host company parties after the completion of significant projects. A unique aspect of these events is the encouragement for employees to display their personal projects or artwork related to their work. This practice not only enhances creativity but also fosters a sense of belonging beyond their job roles.
Another example is Google, which is renowned for its innovative and employee-centric work environment. They offer perks like free meals, wellness centers, and generous parental leave. These benefits, coupled with a strong emphasis on work-life balance and employee development, have helped Google maintain a high employee retention rate.
To learn more about how employee engagement can benefit your organization, give us a call at (661) 384-7070 or visit our employee engagement subcategory page.