Supporting employee retention

It’s no secret that the job market is turbulent at the moment, especially for hiring managers and employers who are fighting against a huge wave of change as the Great Resignation looms over so many. Senior teams are ramping up their employee retention strategies as they watch the number of people looking to leave their jobs for pastures new climb to new heights every single day.

Most recently, the CIPD found that more than 6.5 million workers are expected to quit their jobs in the next 12 months with many seeking out better pay, increased job satisfaction and greater work life balance. As a result, the number of open vacancies has also increased rapidly in the past few months. Statista found that the number of roles available climbed to a record-breaking 1.3 million in the three months to May 2022, a staggering 535,000 more in comparison to the same period a year ago.

Additionally, according to Google Trends, in the past 12 months the search term ‘job near me’ had its highest peak in popularity search in January 2022, with a slow decline in the months following. However, this number has begun to rise again and between the 19^th–25^th June 2022, the search term was very nearly back up to the peak seen at the start of the year.

So, with many employees planning to jump ship in the not-so-distant future, employers need to ensure they have employee retention plans in place that ensure their ships stay afloat and that they don’t lose their valuable talent.

Listen generously

First and foremost, taking the time to understand what your team members want and need from their role, and from you as a business owner, will be crucial to employee retention. A person’s career path is as unique to them as a fingerprint and people want to feel like their needs and values are being considered and change implemented.

Of course, you may not be able to fulfil every request but opening a transparent and honest line of communication enables room for compromise. There may be a middle ground that you can both meet at which supports the professional satisfaction of your employees but also the business’ financial capabilities, too.

Introduce Learning and Development (L&D) programmes

For many, salary isn’t one of the key reasons why they are looking to move roles. Indeed, other aspects – such as a lack of ability to upskill and learn in their current role – also play an integral part of employee disengagement, especially in fast-paced sectors such as Tech.

Staff want to be developed, to be pushed to be the best that they can be and see, tangibly, that the person or people they work for are willing to invest time and money into their development.  

Personalised education and training plans are the perfect way for employers to showcase all the above. Gone are the days where you can place all your employees into one training room and teach them all the same skills, as if they belonged in a production factory. Now, a good employer will listen generously to where their team members see themselves in one, five- and ten-years’ time, and get them there through personalised L&D programmes.  

If you, as an employer, are still only thinking about offering overarching training days which interest perhaps one or two members of the team, be prepared to lose staff quickly.   

Be flexible in what you offer

Here, we’re talking about flexibility in several ways. The first being offering flexible working, a key request from many employees in the post-COVID era. In fact, recent research found that 60 per cent of workers would like more flexibility over their hours than they currently have. Those businesses that refuse to modernise their working models to encapsulate more flexible options will see employee retention (and hiring efforts) diminish at a rapid pace.

Flexibility also extends to the roles you offer. We regularly see vacancies that, on final offer, look very different to the initial vacancy offered at acquisition stage which is brilliant as it entices talent. However, the tweaking of roles internally with existing staff members is something that happens less but should happen more.

Staff members want to have more control over how they work and if what they want to do with their career continues to add value to your business, which it will 99 per cent of the time, then being innovative with how your staff progress is no bad thing.

Employee retention is at the top of all business’ agendas in the current market and being flexible to the needs of their current team members as well as being switched on to their needs and wants are two crucial ways to keep them on board. It’s not enough to simply throw money at the problem, culture plays a huge part here too.

If you are a business looking to improve your employee retention rates and get recruitment solutions advice from an Exeter-based agency, please contact our friendly team who will be more than happy to help.