Retention for the future

Exceptional people are at the heart of every successful and profitable organisation. Finding employees with the right skills, experience, values and work ethic for your business is the first hurdle. Encouraging them to stay in your organisation is a whole other challenge. Haemorrhaging employees is not a good look, not just in terms of cost of recruitment (the cost of recruitment is around 20-30% of an average salary). If people don’t want to stay long in your business it can affect team morale, productivity and your ability to attract new recruits. Once you’ve successfully recruited and developed top talent, working hard to retain them for the future should be your number one priority.

In this blog we’ll be looking at some of the major factors that affect employee retention, how to measure engagement, and we’ll also share some new, innovative ideas to boost employee sentiment and long-term retention.

We are here to help advise and guide. Email us at p3advice@p3pm.co.uk or book some time for a chat with us: Let’s talk people & business.

The employee retention challenge

Employee retention is a measure of a company’s ability to limit staff turnover and keep top talent within the organisation. According to a survey by Ciphr carried out earlier this year, retaining top talent is the number one challenge of both business leaders and HR professionals. The retention challenge was rated higher than mental health and wellbeing, engagement or bridging the skills gap.

Measuring engagement

Would you recommend your business as a great place to work? Recommendation is a key measure of employee engagement. A team that’s engaged, committed and content at work will do part of the retention piece for you by sharing what a brilliant employer your company is. Measuring employee sentiment and asking for qualitative feedback on a regular basis will tell you the areas you need to work on to improve colleague retention.

What type of workplace culture retains the best talent?

Let’s look at some cultural factors that contribute to high levels of employee retention.

1. Trust - employees need to feel trusted in their roles to be comfortable and content at work. Trust starts with senior leaders and needs to flow through the organisation like a red thread connecting with everyone it touches.

2. Respect - retentive workplace cultures have strong levels of respect and understanding. This means tackling diversity, equity and inclusion issues head on, taking visible action, and creating an environment where every employee feels able to be themselves at work.

3. A pleasant work environment - access to a healthy, pleasant workspace with the right equipment makes for an enjoyable place to work. Add to this things like social activities, free fruit, subsidised wellbeing treatments and gym facilities for a good work-life balance.

4. Flexible working - another important aspect of work-life balance, showing flexibility around working patterns and arrangements helps build loyalty. Take a look at how allowing candidates to choose the hours they work has reduced this care provider’s reliance on agency staff and improved recruitment and retention rates.

5. Career development - LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report found that businesses with a strong learning culture have a 57% higher retention rate. Learning also contributes to internal mobility and promotions and gives people a sense of purpose, direction and connection to their organisation. Professional qualifications are attractive, but linear career progression won’t excite everyone. Consider agile career pathways and upskilling and reskilling as credible alternatives.

6. Manager training - poor leadership is one of the biggest reasons why employees leave their role. Employees who have positive relationships with their manager are more likely to be engaged at work and want to stay in the organisation. Providing management development is essential if you want to boost retention rates.

We have a variety of training solutions for managers, in person, online or accessible e:learning. Email us at p3advice@p3pm.co.uk or book some time for a chat with us: Let’s talk people & business.

  7.   Competitive pay and benefits - after flexible working, pay and benefits are a key factor in deciding whether or not to take a role. Once in post, ask employees what kind of benefits they want and align your package to their needs. Asking for regular feedback means you can flex and add to your offering to match expectations.

 8.   Reward and recognition - praise and recognition for a job well done can go a long way to building morale, loyalty and retention. Organisations with a strong track record of appreciating and rewarding strong performance have higher rates of employee retention.

Ideas to boost employee retention

• Make induction memorable

First impressions count and there’s no better time to make a good impression on a new employee than during their first few days in role. An engaging, personalised induction programme allows colleagues to feel their contribution is valued from day one.   

• An employee share issue

Particularly successful in smaller organisations, offering employees a stake in the business is a brilliant way to help your team feel involved, stay motivated, and give them a say in their own future success.

• Reward long service

Recognising loyalty and long service is important if you want employees to achieve career milestones. Common rewards include additional holiday entitlement, vouchers, experiences and celebration events. Some businesses choose to go even further. How about access to a six-month sabbatical to reward long service? It’s the ultimate in flexible working. Employees would return feeling refreshed, possibly even more valued and loyal than before.  

• Ask your team what will make them stay

It sounds so simple, yet many business leaders choose not to listen to their people. If you have a problem with keeping people in roles, create a safe space to talk to your team and ask why they are choosing to leave. Don’t leave it as late as an exit interview. Consider holding focus groups, using surveys, or team meetings to consult their views and listen to what they are really telling you. The outcomes could be interesting. 

Retention relies on a mix of cultural factors

It’s not one but a combination of factors that go in to creating a workplace that’s able to successfully recruit and retain top talent for the future. To build a workplace culture where employees want to stay there needs to be trust and respect, a pleasant working environment, competitive pay and benefits, reward and recognition, and access to learning and development for all. When considering new people strategies and initiatives, ask yourself, will it help or hinder employee retention? If you’re in any doubt, please call us on 0161 941 2426. We’re here to help.

Further reading

For more on the topic of recruitment and retention take a look at our posts on Building a Management Pipeline, Agile Career Pathways, and Flexible Working.

We are here to help advise and guide. Email us at p3advice@p3pm.co.uk or book some time for a chat with us: Let’s talk people & business.