Resources - Articles

Once you’ve captured your talent, how to you retain them?

  • Is your employee turnover too high?
  • Is the cost of employee turnover becoming unsustainable?
  • Do you have high performing employees who you just can’t afford to lose right now?

Research has found that 80 percent of CEOs see employee retention as a strategic priority. The money you spend on recruiting and training staff pays off over time. The longer you keep staff, the greater the return on your investment. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, each worker who leaves your business costs between $33,000 and $66,000 to replace.

Most business owners and managers think retention equates to compensation issues – wage and salary levels, incentives and golden handcuffs – when in reality the drivers go much deeper into the human psyche to the actions and attitudes that make employees feel successful, secure and appreciated. As a result, a sound retention strategy should focus on and tactically address four key elements – people, process, place and programs.

People

  • Developing career planning strategies
  • Redesigning jobs to make the most of your employees’ skills
  • Offering flexible workplace arrangements to individual circumstances, for example, part-time work, work-from home or compressed working weeks
  • Using experienced staff as mentors
  • Rewarding competent staff with financial benefits, praise or recognition

Process

  • Conducting exit and ‘stay’ interview
  • Providing 360 degree feedback tools to assist with development
  • Performance management processes
  • Conducting regular work/life and job satisfaction surveys; communicating the findings and taking action

Place

  • Providing budgets to management for morning teas, lunches and informal catch ups with staff
  • Offering share purchase/bonus options in the company
  • Providing fruit bowls to encourage healthy eating
  • Health and fitness seminars and facilities, onsite and off site to promote healthy minds and work/life balance (yoga, pilates, gym memberships)
  • Providing company logo t-shirts to instill a sense of pride (and promotion!)

Programs

  • Developing employer of choice programs
  • Introducing advancement and future leader/directorship programs
  • Offering full study or scholarship programs
  • Introducing concierge or personal assistance services such as laundry pick up, restaurant delivery, child care, parenting and carers’ rooms at work

Together these four elements can provide you with a retention strategy capable of producing amazing results. You may even have some of them already in place. The key is to make sure you have integrated all four elements into a strategy for retaining employees that is grounded in a genuine commitment to serving your clients and employees over time.

It’s been proven that while money is clearly a satisfier, it is not a core motivator on why your employees leave. The best way to retain and motivate your workforce is avoid the ‘big bang’ approach. Solicit ideas and feedback up, down and sideways across the organisation. Then choose initiatives which match well with your values and culture, and do them well!

Contact Us

Learn more about what Executive People can do for you.
Phone: (07) 3221 2177 or email: info@executivepeople.com.au