5 Employee Retention Ideas To Minimize Employee Turnover

Retaining employees has always been challenging. But lately, it’s become even more difficult for employers to keep their worker lineup intact due to a wider acceptance of remote work. 

Nowadays, employees aren’t limited by geography and they never had a bigger choice of potential new companies they work in - especially in the tech industry.

Since losing a key member of your team and having to onboard someone new will put a significant strain on your budget, you should introduce new employee retention ideas into your workplace as soon as possible.

Here are some that are effective, yet easy to implement.

1. Recognize And Reward Your Employees

Studies have shown a perceived lack of appreciation and recognition is associated with a higher employee turnover rate. Hence, one of the first employee retention ideas to try is the prioritization of social recognition or monetary rewards for your employees' efforts. Employees will stay at your company longer if they feel management appreciates their hard work and dedication. 

While solving this issue seems pretty easy, giving a thumbs up now and then probably won’t cut it. You need to make a complete shift towards a workplace culture that includes specific and frequent acknowledgment. 

For instance, you can reward a hard-working employee with a day off, gift card, free meal, or even a social media shoutout. 

You can take this a step further by supercharging the process with technology. Employee feedback software is slowly gaining traction as it allows you to create a feedback-driven workplace culture where your entire team is encouraged to recognize their colleagues' hard work regularly. 

2. Boost Employee Engagement

According to a recent Gallup study, only 32% of employees are fully engaged at work, while an alarming 18% report they’re actively disengaged. This tank in productivity will ultimately affect your bottom line as disengaged employees will bring down morale and detract their colleagues from focusing on their work. 

The solution - giving your employees a voice.

What do we mean by that?

Employees want to have more control over their work and have a say in the direction of the organization. In other words, they want to feel like they matter in the grand scheme of things. Your employees may also appreciate it if you take their input on new projects seriously and are open to taking criticism about company decisions. 

A great way to achieve this goal is to introduce opportunities for your employees to provide feedback. Your team is right there on the “front lines” and they can detect problems long before management does - making their insight invaluable.

You can solve this issue by using surveys in which you ask straightforward questions about your employees' outlook on their role, team, manager, and the direction in which your company is heading. 

Now, you might be thinking you already have this covered with annual surveys, but those tend to be limited - who needs to know about an issue from 6 months ago that has long been resolved? 

Try implementing frequent pulse surveys and allow your team to provide their opinion on the current situation. This allows you to take action right away and demonstrates to your employees that their opinions do carry weight in your organization.

3. Invest In Your Team’s Professional Development

As far as employee retention ideas go, supporting professional development boosts your retention rate and keeps your employees motivated, thus making it one of the easiest ways to engage and keep your employees. 

A good start is leveraging different coaching programs and providing monetary support for continuing education and completing certification programs. Furthermore, if some of your employees show an interest in a certain field, you can assign them a side project to work on. This shows you care about their career trajectory and value them enough to allow them to bring their expertise to different areas of the company.

You can also upgrade the skills of your entire team in one fell swoop by starting internal knowledge-sharing sessions. During these meetings, your employees have an opportunity to teach their colleagues new skills, which makes the entire team more effective.

4. Place A Larger Emphasis On Employee Wellness

Everyone had to deal with burnout at some point in their working career. 

Although many employers have a careless attitude about this issue, it can have dire consequences if left unattended, especially if a burnt out employee reaches a point where they see no other choice but to leave the company. 

This is why one of the key employee retention ideas revolves around avoiding employee burnout. 

Start by giving your employees flexible hours. While this alone can have a positive impact, you can combat burnout more effectively by also training your management to actively look for signs of it and offer assistance to struggling employees.

You can also ask for the opinions of your employees on the main causes of burnout in your organization. That way, you gain valuable insight and you let your team members come up with feasible suggestions for tackling this important issue.

5. Recruit The Right People

It might seem counterintuitive that the last of our employee retention ideas has to do with recruiting, but it does make sense to set yourself up for success first.

Some people are toxic and it’s in their nature to bring others down. This is why you should discover strategies that help you attract only those who will be fully on board with your company culture and are willing to stick with you for the long haul.

Expanding on what you’re offering in the form of fringe benefits and more competitive salaries is a good starting point, but there’s more you can do. Look for ways to improve your company culture to the point where you’ll stand out and quality talent won’t have a choice but to say yes.

However, you also need to learn to spot the signs of a bad hire to make certain you’re well-prepared for your next round of interviews. 

Keep Everyone Happy

With these employee retention ideas, you can turn your current employees into loyal assets you can always rely on. Taking extra care to ensure they’re happy and have a chance to grow will make your organization seem like a second home - one that isn’t that easy to come by.

If you’re in the process of hiring someone new and want to make it count, feel free to contact Griffin Global. We’re a staffing company with expertise in hiring top tech talent and we can help you find an employee who checks all the boxes, on all fronts.

Call (855) 747-4334 or fill out our contact form and hire an employee worth retaining without breaking a sweat.