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Managing employee retention

6 Tips for Managing Employee Turnover Rates and Boost Retention

Last Updated on July 9, 2024 by Career Reload Team

One of the biggest challenges that many employers face is employee turnover, both voluntary and involuntary. While the latter can be the worst kind, as it can be fueled by drastic scenarios such as economic losses and massive layoffs, both can result in issues with team cohesion, efficiency, and productivity.

As such, it’s imperative to address employee turnover rates and at the same time work on boosting employee retention. Remember: it costs more money to hire new people than it is to keep them happy and have them stay on for longer.

If you’re having some trouble with employee turnover, here are some tips to help you sort things out:

Determine Why Employees Leave

The first order of business in reducing turnover rates is to discover why your employees leave. When you know what the problems are, it will be easier to develop solutions. Conducting exit interviews is a good way to discover these pain points; regular performance reviews, which will be touched upon in more detail later, are also crucial in finding out the root cause of employee turnover.

That said, some of the most common reasons that employees across industries have for leaving their jobs include:

  • Inadequate compensation and work benefits
  • Lack of career advancement opportunities
  • Lack of technical and skills training
  • Poor work-life balance or feeling overworked
  • Incompatibility with company culture
  • Dissatisfaction with company management
  • Better opportunities offered
  • Desire for a career change

Use Technology

Nowadays, there’s a technological solution for everything—including recruitment. For example take a look at this real estate recruiting software. It features outreach automation, lead capture and segmentation, SMS integration, as well as social media lookup. What’s even better is that these same features that help simplify recruitment can also help boost retention.

Another benefit of using technological solutions for recruitment and retention is that you have access to a wealth of data. These can help you derive valuable insights, which can then help you in developing your retention programs. The key is to find the right data sets, so that you also come up with the right understanding of your team.

Try to Hire Good People From the Start

As mentioned, it’s less expensive to retain old employees than to repeat the entire recruitment process looking for new ones. Thus, it’s in your company’s best interests to hire good people right from the beginning. The use of technology like the aforementioned recruiting software can help in this regard.

Writing accurate job descriptions in your job ads is also critical in finding the most suitable person, as this prevents any disappointments due to unrealistic expectations. Your organization should also be open to hiring people of various experience levels, age brackets, genders, and cultural backgrounds. Doing so promotes diversity, as well as creates new avenues for learning.

Create a Positive Onboarding Experience

Once a candidate makes it to the end of the recruitment process and accepts your offer, the next step is onboarding. This is another crucial element of hiring, since it sets the tone of their stay within your company. In short, onboarding is your opportunity to make a good first impression. A positive onboarding experience can even shorten the time that new employees need to become productive.

Develop Company Culture

One of the biggest things that affect an employee’s decision to leave their current employer is the company culture. They may feel like they aren’t a good fit, or that the environment isn’t conducive to both their personal and career growth. Another reason why some people leave due to company culture is that it dictates the mood of the workplace. If it’s too aggressive or perhaps controlling, even the best people will surely leave.

This simply means that you have to pay careful attention to what kind of culture you want to develop. Do you want to be a company that helps its employees thrive? Do you welcome collaboration and healthy competition? Do you encourage creativity? Determine these things early on so the culture can take root.

Conduct Performance Reviews and Provide Development Opportunities

Last but not least, retaining employees will be much easier if you conduct regular performance reviews. This helps you understand the members of your team better, from what they can do best to what they still need to improve. The next step is to then find ways to strengthen existing skills and how to cultivate new ones. This can help boost morale—productive employees are generally happier—and thus increase retention.

You should also have a system in place so that those who excel are recognized. Aside from promotions, where deserved and necessary, consider giving cash bonuses, extra vacation days, and other forms of incentives to well-performing employees. When people know that their hard work is valued and rewarded, they’ll be more inclined to stay.

Ultimately, there’s no single solution to addressing employee turnover. This is simply because every company is different, and employees have different preferences. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned tips can serve as your guide in keeping turnover rates low and retention high.