Employee retention is crucial to the long-term success of your business and therefore the ability to retain employees is a primary measure of the health of your organisation. Of significant concern is the fact that unplanned employee turnover directly impacts the bottom line of your business.Issues such as lost intellectual capital, costly candidate searches, training time and investment, and a sense of insecurity among staff is costly to an organisation. With the current labour market conditions, employee retention strategies are also important to ensure that organisations retain the necessary human capital resources required to profitably run their businesses when skill shortages are at an all time high. To strategically ensure increased revenue, client satisfaction, a committed and satisfied workforce, well embedded organisational knowledge and learning, as well as effective succession planning, organisations should be able to answer "yes" to the following questions:· Do employees know clearly what is expected of them each day? Continually changing expectations minimise employees' sense of internal security and create unnecessary stress. It is beneficial therefore to provide a specific framework in which people can work. · Are employees provided with quality management and leadership? It is well documented that people leave their managers more often than they leave the company or the job. Turnover issues that cause an employee to feel unvalued by their managers include lack of feedback about performance, lack of clarity regarding earning potential, failure to hold scheduled meetings, and the failure to provide a framework for the employee to succeed. Ensure that the right people are in place to lead your teams, departments, business units and the organisation as a whole towards success. · Are employees given regular opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge? A career oriented employee must experience opportunities for growth in order to feel valued by the organisation. To help eliminate a sense of stagnation in the workforce, organisations can offer cross training, internal role related skills enhancement, relevant external course or seminar attendance, succession planning programmes to help groom employees for promotion, opportunities for employees to sit on committees where their skills will be further developed, and encouragement for staff to read relevant books or periodicals to increase their knowledge base. · Are employees' talents and skills fully utilised? Often employees could contribute far more than they currently are and would happily do so if management fully recognised and then utilised their skills, talents and experience. High performing staff often want to contribute to areas outside the specific scope of their individual roles and need the opportunity to do so. High performing organisations recognise this and therefore strive to fully engage the talents of their employees. · Does the organisational culture foster a sense of fairness and equitable treatment for all staff? The perceptions of employees regarding how they feel they are treated are important to the long-term commitment demonstrated by staff. By ensuring internal equity organisations can increase the morale, motivation and dedication of their workforce. · Do senior managers regularly acknowledge and interact with employees? In order for employees to feel welcome, acknowledged and valued it is imperative that senior managers take the time to interact with staff. While the act of management entails setting objectives and monitoring progress, true leadership requires interaction. By learning about employees' various talents, skills and abilities, senior managers are able to stay better connected to the pulse of their organisation. · Are employees granted the freedom to freely speak their minds? By fostering a culture that promotes open discussion employees can feel comfortable offering ideas or even constructive criticism, both of which are necessary for continuous improvement within an organisation. Forward thinking organisations value open communication and therefore they encourage or even reward staff for sharing their thoughts, ideas and suggestions. · Do employees feel appreciated, recognised and fairly rewarded? The act of regularly saying thank you, openly recognising employees' contributions, as well as providing gifts, bonuses and competitive remuneration are all keys to success in retention. Organisations that place emphasis on recognising and rewarding their staff members' efforts and contributions are more likely to benefit from increased employee commitment. Is your organisation currently doing its best to retain your top talent?
I hope the above article will help you for retaining your top talent.
Thanks
Chander Shekhar
HRM
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