Employee Retention

Employee retention refers to keeping an employee with an organization for an extended period. Studies show that there is a financial impact to the organization of one and a half times the employee’s salary. Some organizations have policies and practices that are explicitly aimed at retaining talented employees. This can include performance rewards and pay increases for obtaining new skillsets or education. The monetary value of these initiatives is always going to be less than the cost of replacing an employee. It is beneficial for organizations to consider some of these initiatives.

Why do employees leave?

Sometimes employees leave because of conflicts with their supervisors or coworkers. These instances need to be addressed by a human resource professional that is skilled in conflict resolution practices. Other employees leave because they feel that the organization is limited in growth opportunities related either to an expansion of pay or skills. Supervisors need to consider what can be done to retain productive employees who are underpaid or feel underutilized.

Recruitment

Retaining a great employee begins by hiring a great employee. During the recruitment process, hiring managers should ask questions related to the mission and vision of the organization. This will help to single out recruits who are interested in developing themselves professionally in alignment with the organization. Hiring managers must be transparent about the challenges of the job and anything that might turn off a new employee. Stating these challenges upfront will likely weed out anyone who is not up for the task.

Listen to Employees

Once an employee has been hired, supervisors must listen to their employees. Employees who do not feel that their supervisors support them are more likely to be unhappy. This is also related to employee engagement and employee morale. Employee engagement refers to how dedicated an employee feels to his or her job. Employee morale refers to the satisfaction, outlook, and feelings of well-being an employee has while at work. Being heard and feeling supported boost both engagement and morale.

Training and Development

Training and developing employees gives them additional skillsets. This benefits the organization because it allows for innovation. Organizations that recognize the value in training employees will also see the benefit in different types of training, such as in-house training, public seminars, advanced degree reimbursement, and e-learning. In-house training can be customized to fit the goals of the organization and to address behavioral issues directly. Public workshops allow employees to gain knowledge from professionals outside of the organization. This often results in the employee sharing what they have learned with other employees internally.

Advanced degree reimbursement is a popular way of giving employees the changes to obtain higher education at low to no cost. Many organizations that offer this option require a commitment from employees to receive the full benefit. E-learning is another way that training can be provided with the added benefit of scalability. Courses delivered in an online learning platform can be accessed from anywhere by any employee. This training can be developed in-house or bought from a content vendor that specializes in creating learning solutions.

Increase Employee Retention with Trakstar Learn

Offer employees training and development opportunities at a low cost to the organization by using Trakstar Learn, a learning management system. Learn organizations can create, host, track, and report on e-learning solutions aimed to advance employee skills and support employee retention initiatives. Request a demonstration of the Learn platform to see for yourself why Fortune 500 companies trust it for their e-learning needs.