Highly-skilled and experienced human capital is the most valuable asset for every business. However, since each individual holds different values and personalities, managing employees becomes a challenging task to accomplish. To prevent voluntary turnover due to different principles between employees and the employer, HR leaders should intervene to strategize employee engagement and retention.
Globalised world has opened up opportunities for talents to move from one place to another easily. Recent Gallup poll conducted in 2014 indicated that 51 percent of employees in the U.S are actively disengaged, despite gains. Beyond money, it seems that social and psychological fulfillment are powerful forces that influences employee’s motivation levels to stay with an organisation or leave.
This phenomenon underpins the fact that for every HR practitioner, devising an employee engagement and retention plan is crucial to protecting both the company and employee’s interests.
Deloitte University Press reported that 48 percent respondents view employee engagement and retention as vital for companies to meet the demands and expectations of growing businesses.
See: 27 Cool Employee Engagement Ideas for a Productive
Below are some key strategies for HR leaders to retain the right people with the company for long:
None will be happy if they have to do something, which is supposed to be someone else’s responsibility. Therefore, it is important to define job descriptions of each individual clearly, during onboarding stages. Not only does this help manage work better, but it also makes it easy to control performance reviews. When one clearly knows what is expected of them, they are more engaged with the tasks, and will find a way to contribute to the company.
Freedom and flexibility are among highly-favoured values to adopt in a company culture. Dominating the talent pools, millennials prefer flexible workplaces that allow them the freedom to do things their own way. Rather than managing everything at once, it gives employee the freedom to choose, be flexible and thus boosts productivity.
Investing in continual training and development helps employees to groom and hone their personal and professional skills. It also increases the scope of career advancement prospects to inspire them to stay longer with the company.
Sometimes work is so demanding that it leaves employees with no time for social life. And when one cannot find harmony between work and social life, they have higher tendency to leave the organisation. Hence, employers should encourage employees to disconnect and forget work-related matters when they are at home so they can relax themselves.
Rewarding employees is one way of recognising achievements of employees. However, this is not necessarily limited to physical things such as money or materials. Here, we are talking about sincere and grateful appreciation about an employee’s contribution towards company goals.
It can be through gestures, genuine praise, statements, or cards. Treating your whole team as one or having a drink after work can be a good start to appreciate their hard work.
Solid teamwork will not only prevent conflicts among co-workers, but would also foster a spirit of healthy competition among peers. This in turn, would help promote employee satisfaction in the workplace.
Although the money is good, there are times when people want more. Conduct personal or group discussion with your team members to understand, what they seek to achieve in the next five years. Explain how promotion works within the company and provide timely assistance to help them achieve the career paths they aspire.
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