25 Tips to Retain Your Employees

Employee retention is a priority for business owners everywhere. And it’s no wonder why; It takes an average of 52 days to hire one new employee, and costs an average of $4,000. Hiring a new employee is a timely and expensive task!

If you’re looking for tips on how to improve your employee retention rate, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for 25 tips for retaining your employees!

Hire Strategically

1. Thoroughly vet employees before hiring. Ask for professional references and contact each one of them.
2. Wondering how long for background check to come back with results? That depends on what service you use. But Prior to sending out an official offer. Confirm that your prospective hire is, in fact, who they claim to be and that there are no red flags in their past.
3. Have prospective employees interview with several different potential team members, including their prospective management and a few of their prospective teammates. Ask for their impressions before offering yours to ensure an unbiased answer.
4. Interview for personality in addition to job skills. Remember that a teammate who’s a poor fit can throw a wrench in a well-functioning team.
5. Consider hiring a professional recruiter for specialized hires. They have knowledge, resources, and hiring know-how that you may not.

Compensate Competitively

1. Never offer employees less than a living wage, even if it’s above minimum wage. Employees who simply cannot live on their earnings will always be looking for something new.
2. Research industry standards and competitors’ salary offerings to determine how competitive your compensation may be.
3. Consider non-salary compensation, as well. That includes benefits like health care, paid time off, and even equity in the company as compensation.
4. Regularly review your competitors’ compensation packages to ensure that yours remain up to snuff. While it can be costly to keep up with the compensation, a strong and happy employee will pay for themself.
5. Perform employee reviews on a quarterly or bi-yearly basis with consideration for raises and promotions.

Recognize Regularly

1. Never underestimate the power of verbal recognition. Congratulate employees who have done a good job or been vital to a recent success.
2. Similarly, encourage recognition between employees. Provide an open forum for employees to congratulate one another and recognize each others’ hard work.
3. Create a clear bonus structure for which all employees are eligible and provide a bonus anytime an employee or the company as a whole reaches a goal.
4. Provide non-cash rewards, as well. Those may include things like free lunches, extra vacation days, and more.
5. Recognize publicly! Shout out employees for good work at company-wide meetings or share employee appreciation publicly on your website, social media pages, and more.

Provide Education

1. Purchase company-wide subscriptions to online education courses in your field.
2. Designate regular time for employees to take a break from work-related tasks and spend time learning.
3. Pay for employees to earn certificates in software or tools that are relevant to your business. Some tools may even offer company-wide certifications that will help legitimize your business and can put your company into their certified professionals directory.
4. Regularly meet with employees to understand their professional goals and provide them with educational tools tailored to their specific interests.
5. Consider assisting employees financially with higher education programs, such as graduate programs or professional certificates, that are relevant to your field of work.

Create Open Communication

1. Establish an “open door” policy in your workplace. Any employee should be empowered to approach any person in management to discuss their concerns, from their direct management up to the CEO of the company.
2. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings between all people of management and direct reports. This time should be kept open to allow employees to talk about any concerns they may have.
3. Create direct lines of communication between employees and HR. Employees should know that they can approach HR at any time with any concern or issue that they have.
4. Allow for anonymous feedback, too. Some people may feel uncomfortable openly discussing concerns and anonymous feedback will allow them to feel heard.
5. Provide external mediation when necessary. Disputes between employees and management can get quite heated. Utilize your HR representative to help ease the stress of disgruntled employees.