Staff Retention – Tips For Investing In Your Team

How do good businesses keep good people?

It’s a question many managers and business owners are asking themselves in light of the latest figures released by the government on skills shortages.

According to the skills priority list released by the government in October the number of occupations with skills shortages rose from 153 to 286 over the past year.

Almost 31% of businesses are struggling to find suitable employees with 59% of businesses reporting that applicants lack the required skills and a staggering 79% citing a lack of applicants for their job vacancies.

At a time like this with unemployment at an all-time low, and a very real skills shortage to contend with across a multitude of industries, it’s no surprise that businesses are scrambling to retain their staff.

Here are nine tips to hold on to your talent in the employee pool.

Retain the best people

Any business owner or HR manager worth their salt will tell you retaining good talent is important to an organisation. Organisations who work hard to retain their best people benefit. Organisations who do not attempt to retain their best talent, even when they are considering leaving, lose out.

The cost of hiring a new employee has been estimated to cost on average $30,000. When you consider this financial cost, a company with a high turnover loses up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Training

No employee wants to be stagnant in a business or feel as though there is no room for them to grow and rise up the ranks. Employees who are given ongoing training opportunities feel a sense of self-worth and belonging to a business – that the organisation needs them just as much as they need the job (in most cases).

As Richard Branson told Inc Magazine, “It should go without saying, if the person who works at your company is 100 percent proud of the brand and you give them the tools to do a good job and they are treated well, they’re going to be happy.”

Happy employees stay.

An investment of even $5000 a year in staff professional development funding is better than $30,000 from having to hire and train new staff.

Team Activities

Fostering an environment where staff get to know each other and have some socliasation is good for morale and for the company. When staff members feel as though they know the people they work with and are given the opportunity to get to know them, they feel more of a sense of belonging.

Organisations should encourage team activities like Friday afternoon drinks, group sport sessions or monthly morning teas fostered and driven by the management staff.

Gallup found that close friendships at work boost employee satisfaction by 50% and people with a best friend at work are 7x more likely to engage fully in their work.

Invest in your people

Invest in your current employee pool. Whether that’s training or professional development, industry events or seminars. Investing in your staff shows your commitment to them.

It’s also good for your company. Encouraging your staff to be more involved in the industry by paying for an industry membership or tickets to a conference can help to build your contacts as well as theirs.

Celebrate their Achievements

When an employee feels that their hard work goes unnoticed, it can breed resentment. The simple act of acknowledgement for a work anniversary or an employee landing a new client goes a long way.

A study conducted by Entelo found that people are most likely to leave their jobs after their first, second, and third year at a company. Instilling a sense of acknowledgement of the commitment and hard work that your employees put in early on is the stepping stone to building a work group that will stick with your organisation for the long run.

Get feedback

If you want to know how your management style is affecting your staff and if your staff are happy, you can simply ask them.

Get feedback through anonymous surveys and regular interviews and discussions. Getting regular feedback enables you to adjust your management structure and style to ensure your employees are happy and supported to do the best job they can.

Offer flexibility

In this day and age, you need to be flexible with the working arrangements to retain your staff.

Offer flexible working conditions such as shift changes and flexible hours, the possibility of remote work or a hybrid model of remote and in-house work. This not only helps you keep your best employees but it will help you attract the best talent in the industry as well.

If you don’t need the employee to live within your city to work with your company, you just widened your pool for potential employees.

Money Talks

Retaining good employees means offering competitive salaries for the industry and incremental wage increases over time. If an employee feels their work is not appreciated or acknowledged it leads to feelings of resentment and low productivity over time.

You can avoid this by offering yearly salary reviews to ensure your employee’s salaries accurately reflecting their role in the company. When a role is redefined or an employee is promoted from within, make sure you are offering the best possible salary you can for this role. A figure that reflects the industry standard and is competitive for the role.

Promote from within

Why are you putting out Seek ads for new roles without first discussing with your team who may be interested in learning a new part of the business or taking on more responsibility?

There is nothing more frustrating for an employee than being overlooked for new positions that come up within the business, especially when they are filled by an ‘outsider’.

Speak to your existing team when the need for recruitment arises. They will feel that their opinions are valued and that they are worthy enough to apply for new roles within the business – because you came to them first.

Final Thoughts

Retaining staff can be challenging but offering opportunities for professional development and training, doing regular salary reviews and offering flexibility can help you retain your best people.

Asset College can help you with your professional development and training plans for employees. Speak with our team about how we can help you invest in your team and retain your talent.

Staff Retention – Tips For Investing In Your Team