Employee Retention Best Practices – What Works?

Though many leaders are concerned about losing their best people, few understand all the factors that contribute to a successful engagement and retention strategy. Even fewer create and implement effective employee engagement training programs to ensure success. While most now know that people leave their manager as much as they leave a company, many forget four other factors that influence engagement and retention.

1. Hiring: The very first step is to hire for the long term. Recruit and hire the talent that best fits with your company goals and culture. Then with the right talent on board, ensure that they are feeling successful and have the resources to get the job done from day one. The two biggest mistakes that we see in this area are not adequately interviewing for cultural fit and not having a meaningful new hire on-boarding process that guides an employee’s first 90-days.
   
   
2. Development: Check regularly to be sure employees have a sense of achievement and are continuously developing their skills. Employees, especially younger generations, want opportunities to learn and advance. Do they know of career opportunities within the company and are you helping your employees qualify for them? Are they challenged and supported? Does training help them hit their performance targets and advance their careers?
   
   
3. Recognition: Along with keeping track of your employees’ satisfaction, managers need to recognize good work. School teachers understand it often doesn’t take more than a simple gold star to keep high achievers on track; employees may only need an “atta boy” but they DO need it. Make it a priority to understand what motivates your best employees – intrinsically and extrinsically. Then give it to them.
   
   
4. Performance Environment: And, last but not least, build a team that respects and works well with one another. A collaborative team keeps employees happily contributing and more likely to stay. As a leader, it is your job to create an environment where people can thrive. In addition to the factors mentioned above, a positive and high performance environment typically includes a clear direction, a sense of belonging, a fair and transparent performance management system, and a chance to win.