The average company experiences an 18% turnover rate in its workforce every year.
Maintaining a cohesive team and meeting revenue goals can be difficult with a revolving team. This is why so many organizations are making employee retention a priority.
But the question remains, how do we keep turnover rates low and focus on employee retention? What parts of your business could this shift in focus affect?
Let’s start with the basics and then dive into some solutions.
Understanding the importance of employee retention
Employee retention is an organization’s ability to keep its workers.
There are many strategies for achieving a high employee retention rate, including:
- Leveraging communication tactics
- Using a clear organizational structure
- Investing in technology
- Using promotional strategies
These solutions might sound simple and relatively straightforward. That's because, for the most part, they are!
For example, increasing or leveraging clear communication with employees can make them “feel valued, satisfied, and motivated,” ultimately helping with employee retention.
Solutions are as simple as facilitating team meetings or using digital signage to share messages with entire teams quickly.
Why does employee retention matter?
The benefits of high employee retention rates may not be immediately apparent, but here are a few benefits you should consider.
Reduced costs
Research shows that large U.S. businesses lose an astonishing $1 trillion annually from voluntary employee turnover.
Here's how the costs of rehiring add up, both in terms of time and money:
- Attracting new talent, which can cost as much as nine months of a current employee's salary
- Evaluating applications and interviewing candidates
- Training new hires to perform at the same level as experienced team members
Replacing valued employees can be a laborious and time-intensive process. Not to mention, getting new hires to reach the same level of performance as veteran employees can take a significantly long time and will require substantial training.
Altogether, retaining a valuable employee is worthwhile, and it can save you quite a bit of money.
A more experienced team
High levels of experience lead to better performance.
Even with comprehensive training plans, it will be impossible to cover all of the nuanced situations a new hire may come across. This can create gaps in knowledge, leading to underperformance in the face of complex challenges.
Plus, if your business values relationship building, having familiar faces around can be a make or break.
Losing significant portions of your workers due to turnover will make it tough to build the lasting relationships you need to retain your top clients, which can negatively impact company culture.
Productivity improves
Unhappy workers put a weighty $500 billion dent in the US economy due to low productivity.
High rates of employee dissatisfaction and turnover can have severe impacts on performance. Here's how unhappy employees can affect your business:
- Unhappy employees are more likely to commit corporate theft
- Dissatisfaction is contagious to other workers
- Employees are truant when they are unengaged
- Unpleasant employee attitudes can impact customer experience
Altogether, high turnover and employee dissatisfaction can lead to lost potential and growth.
Better customer experiences
Employee turnover can also play a significant role in determining your rate of client retention. When employees shuffle in and out, developing a robust understanding of client needs can be challenging.
Employee expertise directly impacts your customer experience.
Long waits, low employee engagement and a lack of awareness can worsen client experiences. A knowledgeable team that understands your client base, business model and brand values ensures a high-quality customer experience.
Satisfaction is contagious
Developing a positive workplace culture is difficult when employees are disgruntled and likely to leave. However, having an established team that understands and promotes workplace values positively impacts your organization.
Research has proven that happiness is contagious.
The attitude of those around you can significantly affect your mood, and keeping happy, engaged, and dedicated employees around can make a world of difference.
How to increase employee retention
Okay, now that we know how vital employee retention is, let's discuss some effective strategies.
Keep salaries and benefits competitive
63% of employees cite salary as their primary reason for leaving a position.
Keeping compensation competitive and fair is a rudimentary way to ensure at least baseline satisfaction. That being said, compensation is more than salary. It can include health benefits, employee discounts and other perks.
If you’re looking to beef up your compensation package, you might consider these options:
- 401K matching
- Paid time off and parental leave
- Transportation stipends
- Child Care assistance
Offering unique but needed forms of compensation beyond wages can boost employee retention rates – even if you can’t provide the highest salaries in town.
Seek and use employee feedback
Everyone wants to feel like they have a say in what’s happening around them.
Taking employee feedback and opinions into consideration makes your workforce feel heard and valued. It can also help you address gaps in training and your workplace culture.
With the immediacy of technology, disseminating, creating and analyzing feedback is simple. Digital signage is a highly efficient way to get started.
Create opportunities for advancement
Workplace mobility can have significant positive impacts on employee performance.
Opportunities for advancement can lead to a 49% increase in employee engagement. In addition, the potential for employee progress toward high-level career goals can lead to higher retention levels.
Creating a supportive and growth-oriented environment can be simple.
For example, detailed and employee-oriented performance reviews can help set specific goals. These goals establish productive workplace trajectories.
Promotion policies can also help employees feel consistently recognized and allow them to experience career growth within your organization rather than somewhere new.
Be flexible
Nowadays, flexibility is one of the most important components of keeping your employees happy and on your team.
Flexibility in the workplace could mean:
- Opportunities to work from home
- Flexibility in workday scheduling
- The ability to have a say in the workplace environment by using headphones, choosing desks or working in alternate office settings
- Allowing employees to use their preferred software and technology when possible
It’s important to be realistic in what you can offer. But, even offering employees some control in the workplace can make a huge difference.
Consistently communicate
Keeping employees in the loop is a major key to organizational success.
From decision-making to performance statistics, communication builds a strong workplace community. Digital signage can help with this.
It’s a simple way to share as much information as you want with your entire team without doing it yourself or delegating.
Creating quick digital displays is easy with UPshow. Simply select a display template, fill in any pertinent information and voila! It’ll be up on screens a few minutes later. Plus, it’s easy to target messages based on locations and team members with a few clicks.
UPshow leverages the power of technology to increase retention rates
If you’re ready to use digital signage to communicate with your employees more effectively, UPshow is your solution.
Our digital signage software makes it incredibly easy to craft custom messages and share them with your team. You can even use UPshow to solicit employee feedback with QR-linked surveys and forms.
It’s an all-in-one marketing platform that can help you retain more of your employees.
