As the workforce evolves to embrace working from home as the new normal, business owners are looking for employee retention strategies that will enable them to keep their most valuable staff loyal and engaged. Studies show that the average employee exit costs 33% of their annual salary.

So What Can They Do?

Begin at the Beginning

Good employee retention relates directly to good onboarding processes. Make sure that all new hires are clear about their goals and objectives, who they report to, and who they can rely on for assistance. Have a dedicated HR Manager who will then check in on team members regularly to ensure that they are feeling properly supported.

Managed Mentoring Program

Reward your high performing talent with an experienced mentor who can guide and support them on their leadership journey. Mentoring programs are shown to increase staff engagement and retention, but also boost performance and productivity. 

As far as employee retention strategies go, they are an absolute win-win for business owners and their teams. They do need to be run properly though, with careful matching, monitoring, supporting and reporting on these important partnerships. Left to chance, workplace mentoring programs often suffer from a lack of engagement and impact.

Show Them the Money

It’s not the only thing that keeps employees feeling valued: recognition in front of their peers, shouting them a nice one-on-one lunch, or organising team social events, can all keep your valuable A-Players engaged. However at the end of the day, assuming you have an amazing culture and are an admired leader, the one thing that will lure your employees away to work somewhere else is more money. So pay them what they’re worth and give bonuses to those who exceed expectations.

Training and Development

Similar to mentoring programs, employee training and development creates a win-win for both employees and the business and so is another one of the key employee retention strategies that is well worth the investment. Particularly when technology and best practice are evolving so quickly, you need your key talent to be on top of the changes in order to remain competitive.

Honesty and Transparency

Employees know when they are being lied to or when information is being kept from them and this is an absolute trust and loyalty killer. All of your other employee retention strategies will be worthless if you can’t be honest with your team. And this means both good and bad news. Particularly when things are changing and challenging, it is more important than ever to communicate openly and clearly.