Strategies to Build the Great Retention
The writing is on the wall. The chasm between what employees want and expect from their employers and what companies are willing to offer is widening. Even as the economy slows and hiring freezes are becoming the norm, the Great Resignation is still happening. As a result, employers are facing 2023 with smaller budgets, fewer employees, and greater demands on performance and results.
To quote Nelson Mandela, "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." My point? Let’s look at this particular moment in time as both an opportunity and a challenge. We here at HigherPeople are always up for a challenge.
As we roll into 2023, human-focused leaders can turn the Great Resignation into the Great Retention, as Forbes and many others have called it. We all know how powerful employee retention is for any company. When our employees stay longer, they strengthen company culture, build solid and high-performing teams, and grow the bottom line. Retention should always be a company goal, no matter the current economic or business situation. But in this current climate, it is critical to survival. Hence, opportunity and challenge. Who's with me?!?!
The Top Five Reasons People Leave Their Jobs Are Mostly Cultural
To build a strong retention strategy, the first thing to do is understand why your employees are leaving. According to iHire’s 2022 Talent Retention Report, the top five reasons people left jobs from January to August 2022 were:
43.7% were unhappy with their manager/supervisor
43.4% were unhappy with their pay/salary
35.4% reported having a poor work/life balance
29.7% felt there was a lack of recognition/appreciation
28.3% felt there were few growth/advancement opportunities
Spoiler alert! Four out of five of these reasons reflect your company culture and how human-focused your company is (or isn't). This is where the opportunity exists. Let's build a company culture that puts people first. Productivity and profitability will follow. How do you do that? I'm glad you asked! Here are some strategies to consider.
Your Staff Wants to Be Connected to Your WHY
People feel connected to companies with a clear purpose and core values. Revisiting your organization's “WHY” and creating purpose-driven moments for your staff to reconnect with it is an impactful way for them to feel aligned. Reminding them how their day-to-day tasks support the larger purpose is the simplest way to create this alignment.
Every company has a purpose, but few companies clearly articulate it. Purpose is the reason that your organization exists. It's the reason your employees join and choose to stay. In turbulent times your team's belief in what your company is trying to achieve is even more critical. This is your chance to prove to your people that there's more to your organization than the bottom line. And don't just talk the talk; show them you mean it with actions and results.
87% Want Employers to be More Transparent
Your leaders are driving people away. Ok, that's a little dramatic, but the survey results don't lie. Issues with management are causing more resignations than salary concerns. The key to retaining employees is human-focused leadership. This means leading with transparency and emotional intelligence. Your leaders should know and understand how to communicate with employees so that they feel included and connected to them and to the company. According to a Slack study on the future of work, 80% of workers want to know more about how decisions are made at work, and 87% want their employer to be more transparent.
Empower your leaders to openly discuss strategy, direction, and purpose with their employees. Encourage them to share news and updates about the business to encourage more transparent conversations. Don't assume your employees don't care about the industry or the numbers. Share research you or your managers are doing on innovations or new directions leadership is considering. Transparency is critical to trust.
Also, employees look to leaders to model how to act within their company. Leading by example creates a positive work environment and strong company morale. Here are two simple examples. First, say “thank you.” There is power in those two words. Don’t just dash off a “thanks” in an email and call it a day. Make a point to show gratitude to your employees often and tie it to a specific action the recipient did so they can see that you are sincere. Second, show your team that you always show up and you value their time. This can be as simple as being on time for meetings. Your team’s time is just as valuable as yours. Show them you value it and them. Be available. Don’t make them wait.
Great leaders understand the impact they have on the lives of their employees. They understand the need to set an excellent example for the team. Because when you model the behavior you want to see in team members, you are more likely to lead a highly functional and engaged team.
Define a Career Path, When You Can
When your employees can't see a future for themselves in a job, they are less likely to be engaged and more likely to leave if another opportunity comes around. It's essential to provide your employees with clear and consistent opportunities to grow professionally. Encourage managers to have consistent conversations on career goals and to build a career development plan with each team member. Offer cross-training, adjacent learning, upskilling and reskilling opportunities. Provide tuition and educational expense reimbursement and encourage stretch assignments. Open as many lateral and cross-functional opportunities within your organization as you can.
Let's be honest - you might not have a vertical career opportunity open for everyone on your team. This is okay. Even if someone leaves, they will leave talking about how much you did to help their career grow and this in turn helps the employer brand. A positive employer brand is powerful. So, don't let that concern stop you from creating a company culture of advancement and potential.
Have You Ever Asked Your Employees Why They Stay With You?
To feel engaged, your employees need to know that their input is valuable and important. Clear and open lines of communication are critical to a strong company culture. This means more than just having an "open door" communication policy. It also means implementing DEI programs and employee resource groups that have an impact. It means creating a continuous employee feedback loop that collects crucial data and sentiment on employees' concerns, like flexible schedules, benefits, leadership, and work environments. Never assume you know what "your people" want or will say. Let them use their voice to tell you.
Here's one interesting strategy to consider. A stay interview is a structured one-on-one conversation with current employees willing to be honest about their job and the company. These interviews can give insights into how your company is doing regarding staff job satisfaction. The results can also help you proactively react to issues before you lose staff members. In addition, stay interviews can enhance a culture of trust and transparency when you are open to honest feedback and are committed to acting on it. The recommendation is to conduct these interviews with long-term employees once a year as part of your yearly performance review cadence.
Want to start today? Here are 20 questions to ask in a stay interview. I particularly like these:
Do you feel that you are currently doing the best work of your life?
Can you list the factors that could contribute to you doing the best for your life?
Can you imagine how interesting and insightful your team's answers would be? That’s powerful information!
“Standard” HR Practices for Retention, Which Sadly Aren’t so Standard
Not surprisingly, employees are more likely to stay at jobs where they feel recognized. Yet, many employers don't have an employee recognition program; if they do, it's half-assed at best. If this is you, no judgment, but now is the time to change that.
Establish an employee recognition program that recognizes staff members throughout the year in an impactful way. This is more than just giving out awards at a yearly event. Ask your leaders to help create a program to recognize their teams daily or weekly. Make it easy for any staff member to publicly give props to their managers or peers. Offer incentives to the staff members who stand out the most. The best program will result from engaging your employees in its creation. Ask them what they would like to see in their recognition program.
Employee events are still very effective in building staff engagement, especially if your workforce is remote. Reward teams for successes or milestones with in-person celebrations and schedule regular company retreats with team-building activities. When you create positive and fun experiences, your employees feel part of the company community.
Salary is the second reason employees leave their jobs. That is a discussion for another blog. However, there are benefits you can implement that might mitigate that concern for certain employees. Ensure your company offers a benefits package that makes a difference in your employees’ lives. Here are some suggestions:
a strong 401k company match
health insurance that extends coverage to non-dependents
paternity leave
family planning benefits, including egg freezing, IVF, and abortion support
bereavement leave
flexible PTO policies that include paid time to volunteer or take sabbaticals
These details may be more important to some staff members than their salary. Remember, replacing an employee is expensive, maybe even more costly than the increased expense of extended benefits. Keep in mind that many of the benefits above can also be fully written off, so it's often a better solution for tax reasons to offer them to employees versus increasing salaries across the board.
2023 is Going to Be a Challenging Year for Most Businesses
Don’t be a statistic in the Great Resignation. Your employees want to understand your company’s purpose. They want to feel like they are a part of a community. They are looking to you for connection and engagement. They want to stay. Let’s give them reasons to stay. Let’s take this opportunity to be a part of the Great Retention.
Need help? The HigherPeople team are experts in employee retention and have plenty of ideas to share. We are up for the challenge. Let’s do this!