How to retain good employees

Employee retention is the key to long term success of any business and ii one of the primary measures of any organisations health.
According to Learn direct, 31% of UK workers are dissatisfied within their current role and are looking for something new career wise.  Businesses are estimated to lose £40 million a day due to unhappy workers who will waste time chatting to co-workers, daydreaming about new jobs and researching new opportunities that.
Maintaining the best employees will ensure customer satisfaction, sales, effective succession planning and organisation knowledge and learning. Losing a key employee is a costly exercise when there is the loss of earnings when recruiting and training for a replacement, and the loss of knowledge from the employee that has left.
These are not fool proof as you can’t avoid that some employees will move on, but we have a few hints and tips that can be adopted within your business that may make your employees think twice before leaving:
Provide a good framework:
Clearly laying out to employees what is expected of them within their working day helps to make them feel secure. This doesn’t mean that the jobs roles and responsibilities cannot adapt and evolve as needed within the business, but it helps to give a framework.
Good supervision & Training
Employees will thrive if they have the right training and equipment to support them in doing their job well. If they do not have the support, tools or equipment, they may look for an employer that does.
Giving employees the freedom to voice their opinions.
Your employees are or become experts within their area of the business; from providing customer service to the shop floor and warehouses. Giving them an opportunity to voice their ideas for a seasonal offer, or changing a process that isn’t working well to one that will improve productivity, you can learn from them and make continuous improvements that will better your business, as well as make their voices feel valued. It is important to feedback to staff on the changes they suggest and communicate if there is valid reason why an idea cannot go ahead, to stop them from not contributing in the future and then look to leave.
Recognition and reward.
The most important tip of all when it comes to retaining staff. Work is normally related to money and every individual will always want more. Regular recognition, monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts go a long way. Commissions and challenging but achievable bonuses that are easily understood raise staff motivation Raises tied to accomplishments and achievement will also retain staff as will targets to help gain more (known as KPI’s).
Provide growth and development
Without the opportunity to grow, develop and learn new skills within their career, employees will become complacent and bored, which will cause them to seek new opportunities that challenge them. Not everyone will want to take you up on these opportunities, but be seen to be offering them.
Take the time to be seen.
Some employees will look elsewhere if they feel they are just a number to management. Take the time to find out more about employees and make them feel welcome to the business. Social mixers outside of work are a great way to get to know your employees outside of work and can break down the hierarchy barrier. If you are a small start-up company then set aside time to meet with your employees to catch up and find out how they are getting on.
It is a part of the working life cycle that you will not b able to keep every employee that you have – their priorities and circumstance may change that are beyond your control. Exit interviews will provide you with valuable information about the health of your organisation. It is therefore important to listen to what is being said, take note, and where possible be reactive and make changes, especially if a similar point is being raised by every staff member.
About Zenopa,
Zenopa is a service organisation that’s provides flexible, rapid and effective recruitment solutions within the healthcare industry. We work with leading companies within the healthcare sector that offer sales opportunities at all levels within the Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices, Animal Health, Consumer, Dental , and Scientific sectors. If you would like to find out more about how we can help you, register your details, send us a message, call +44 (0)1494 818 000 or email enquiries@zenopa.com