Happy Employee, Happy Company!
The Benefits of Effective Employee Retention.
According to the CIPD’s 2020 Resourcing and Planning Survey, the rate of voluntary employee turnover almost doubled from 5.5% in 2014 to 10.1% in 2019.
A modest level of staff turnover can be positive for a business – new starts can suggest new ways of working, approaches and ideas. However, the right culture, attitude, policies and respect can really go far in keeping your employees loyal and happy. Here are a few tips from us at Ashton People Solutions to help ensure your workplace is a good place to be! We can help with improvements, advice or materials on any of these points, so feel free to get in touch. Scroll down for details!
Competitive Salary and Benefits
The pandemic curtailed some spending opportunities and put into sharp focus what matters to individuals, many employees could be reconsidering what they want from their experience at work. Carrying out a salary benchmarking review can ensure you stay competitive and attractive to jobseekers and current employees. Put a salary review date into your calendar to do this annually.
Right Person, Right Job
If your recruitment processes are not up to standard, you will be more likely to hire individuals who are not a good fit for your organisation.
Clearer job descriptions – If you can better inform prospective candidates of what their role will specifically involve and your workplace culture, it will confirm your successful candidate’s expectations when starting the role.
Improve your interview process – In advance, ensure your recruitment panel prepares questions, agrees on scoring and individual roles, and understands how to create a welcoming atmosphere that allows for a productive and enlightening interview.
Make your recruitment inclusive – Many employees, particularly those in younger cohorts, strongly care about diversity and inclusion. Their first experience of your business – the interview – must therefore display your commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Team fit – It is a good idea to include team fit within your scoring criteria. Invite them to meet the rest of your team at interview stage and ask for your team’s opinion too, they will be working with them after all.
Wellbeing and Work Life Balance Matter!
Have a robust wellbeing policy and treat any absence or personal issues delicately and with a suitable meeting scale and structure. Provide employees with welfare support where necessary, via Employee Assistance Helpline or a medical funding package.
We have heard in the media that a more open approach to flexible working should be considered, especially post-pandemic, as the work from home directive highlighted how it was easier for some to work this way. More and more office workers will expect a blended working approach moving forward.
It is important to thoroughly consider any flexible working requests and consider that not meeting an employee in the middle may mean they leave to find work elsewhere. Doing so can encourage a more loyal, long serving, diverse and family friendly workforce, as the below article suggests. However, only do so if this is right for you, the employee and the business, and remember that frequent contact in the office is still vital to team relationships and productivity. You are not obligated to honour a request, only to consider it seriously.
Effective Management
– Provide regular appraisals tied to agreed SMART targets with pre-defined success outcomes.
– Advertise posts within your organisation before they go public.
– Encourage employees with the right skills to apply for internal roles.
– Define and publish career progression paths within the organisation – noting expected skills and experience.
– Promote discussion between employees and managers around career goals.-
– Have a study leave policy and training agreement to allow for employees to better themselves and grow within your organisation.
– Allow an employee autonomy where possible. This can improve self-worth and initiative skills.
Employee Engagement
Keep employees in the loop with company news.
Implement staff surveys and make sure areas of concern are followed up by action and communicate this in a timely manner.
Hold monthly or quarterly employee briefings.
Arrange team building exercises.
Have an open-door policy and make sure your teams know who they can go to with an queries, or even just a chat.
Workplaces are a huge part of people’s lives, and by keeping them happy and respected, you will reap the benefits in the long term.
Contact us now on 01352 878535 or info@ashtonpeoplesolutions.co.uk if you think you could improve your employee package, or would like assistance with policies, benefits, recruitment, training or staff surveys.
