Today, retention is a priority for most companies. The labor market is incredibly tight and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Plus, skill gaps are pervasive, increasing competition for specific professionals.
Fortunately, improving retention isn’t always as challenging as it seems. If you need to retain talent, here are three proven approaches that can help.
1. Focus on the Individual
Every employee is a unique individual with their own needs, preferences, priorities, and goals. Since that’s the case, treating your workers as if they’re all the same can lead to retention issues. Management styles that may help some employees flourish cause others to struggle. Benefits that are highly desirable to certain workers might provide no value to the rest.
Ideally, you want to spend time getting to know your employees as individuals. By doing so, you can learn what makes them tick, as well as what they hope to achieve professionally and what they want to find in a workplace. Then, you can adjust your approach accordingly, ensuring you’re creating an environment where they can thrive.
2. Prioritize Empowerment
Empowering the careers of your workforce is incredibly effective when you want to improve retention. Most professionals have aspirations beyond their current role. If you can make moving forward easier, the odds that your best and brightest will stay on staff increase dramatically.
In most cases, the easiest way to begin in this area is by creating clear pathways for advancement. Next, make sure that correlating training and growth opportunities are accessible, ideally through flexible mechanisms that fit into busy schedules with ease.
Finally, make sure that employees have a chance to network internally and externally. While it may seem counterintuitive to encourage relationship building outside of the workplace, it gives employees access to more knowledge and perspectives. Plus, if they’re legitimately happy in their roles, they’ll tell others, and that may make it easier to find new candidates when you have open positions.
3. Communicate Openly
One reason why some employees choose to leave a position is a lack of transparency. Feeling like your employer is hiding something is, at a minimum, disheartening. At worst, it breeds distrust, potentially harming morale significantly.
While openly discussing challenges is difficult, it’s the best move. Employees feel more comfortable when they know where things stand. Plus, it shows that you trust your employees, even when the news isn’t great.
Plus, communication is beneficial in other ways. By touching base with employees regularly and providing feedback, you forge stronger relationships. By asking workers for insights relating to their area of expertise, you show that you trust their judgment.
Ultimately, communication is a potent tool. When used correctly, it improves morale and boosts loyalty, allowing you to improve retention even during difficult periods.
Bottom Line
Today, retention needs to be a priority. By using the right approaches – including those outlined above – it’s far easier to make notable improvements in a short timeframe, making it easier to achieve your broader staffing goals.
If you don’t set the stage with strong communication and an exceptional onboarding experience, accessing the top talent you need becomes increasingly challenging. Fortunately, Essium’s technology can help, empowering you to streamline your hiring and onboarding processes. Contact us to learn more about how our solutions can benefit your staffing agency.
