3 things you need to do now to improve retention

Retention is the hot topic at the moment, the great resignation wave is underway and understandably organisations are trying their best to hold on to their employees.  However, with retention, there is no true quick fix.  Yes, you could double everyone’s salaries, but if the reason everyone is leaving is a lack of flexibility, a toxic culture, or lack of development, offering more money is just putting a temporary sticking plaster over the problem.  There also isn’t a one-size-fits all solution, while the issues causing resignations can follow a similar theme, the drivers are unique to each organisation and individual.

That being said, there are things all employers can do to help improve their staff retention. These are our top 3 things you can start doing now that will all have a positive impact.

1. Assess the current market and refresh your employment offering – check out competitors is your offering different re: pay, benefits, holiday, working patterns etc. If you’re not offering the option to work from home, but competitors are, if your salaries are considerably under the market rate or your benefits such as healthcare, and holiday allowance aren’t in line with others, it will impact your ability to retain current and attract new staff.  Leaders need to regularly assess the current market and ensure that their offerings are competitive.
2. Find out why people are leaving – if you know why people are leaving, then you can start to fix it. However, it’s not just a case of conducting exit interviews and simply asking people. The how, when, and who asks will have a big impact on the responses you receive and how truthful and therefore helpful they are.  Our 123 of exit interviews cover our top 3 tips for conducting effective exit interviews <<link to other blog>> and will help you discover the main drivers behind resignations.
3. Follow up on the findings – do something about the above. If you find out you’re not matching the market with regards to flexibility and holiday entitlement and do nothing about it, nothing will change. If your exit interviews continually highlight an internal issue linked to a particular employee, team, or process, you don’t change anything. Then nothing will change. Once you discover the main drivers behind resignations action needs to be taken to address the issues. Some could be simple to rectify others may take more time and a longer-term approach.

These are by no means the only things you could or should do. However, if these are undertaken, and undertaken well they will have a positive impact that goes beyond just retaining your staff. They will make you a more attractive employer, which in turn will improve your recruitment.  If your staff aren’t leaving, then they’re happier, happier staff are more motivated and engaged.

If you’d like more help understanding how you could improve your staff retention, why not pre-register for our upcoming retention webinar.