Posted on 15th Sep, 2021
Employee retention is quickly becoming a crucial differentiator among competition. A company's capacity to hold on to its talent — particularly in tight hiring markets — has deep implications for its ability to operate at an optimum level, without the interruptions that employee turnover bring.
Employee turnover can be extremely expensive. By some estimates, it could cost an employer about double an employee's salary to replace them when they quit, with this cost varying across different industries, with this cost being possibly even higher for some employees.
Find this hard to believe? Just consider the employees you have working for you right now, who:
have task-critical skills that your company relies on
possess a repertoire of knowledge that is crucial to the organization's success
those who have reinvented their job
are such key players that the thought of them leaving terrifies you
25% of all employees are of this nature – or what you or any employer might consider “high risk” when it comes to the prospect of retention.
winning the employee retention battle?
avoiding losing your employees in this kind of job market?
keeping your employees working for you?
Competitive Salary and Benefits: According to a recent Glassdoor survey of people in the recruitment industry, for about 45% of employees who quit the top reason is salary. The next most common reasons include career advancement opportunities, better benefits, and location.
Is money everything? Looking at studies like these, organizations can get lulled into a false security that increasing compensation and benefits will improve retention, but this is just a knee-jerk reaction which may cost more than the company can afford.
Hiring the Right Employees: If you hire a quitter, don't be surprised if they quit – i.e., if you hire someone who is a bad fit for your business right from the get-go, don't be surprised if they (or colleagues they have annoyed) quit. 37% of hiring managers according to the Glassdoor survey say that new hires are likely to stick around longer if they were better informed during the hiring process.
Reduce Employee Pain: When employees' work-life balance is out of whack, they experience ‘pain'. If employees feel like they're spending most of their lives working instead of living, the job ends up becoming ‘the bad guy' for them.
In cases when a small business or company is in a situation or an industry where competition for great employees is high, but the business can't afford to pay a rupee-for-rupee competitive salary, what can they do instead?
Find the pain point: Using tools such as employee surveys, direct feedback, and paying attention to industry trends can help find out what is a cause for employee frustration in the industry.
Alleviate the pain point: While it is true money can be the easiest way to do so, there are other ways to attack the pain problem that some employees will consider being just as valuable as being paid more – e.g., offering flexible work timings.
Don't allow the pain to gather elsewhere: It is an unfortunate reality that good workers are easily taken for granted. As an organization, it is necessary to be on guard for employees who may not be complaining but are quietly feeling exhausted or frustrated about the amount of work expected from them.