At a time where turnover and “job hopping” is on the rise, CEOs need to think differently about their approach to retaining top talent. With turnover costing businesses 20 percent of a lost employee’s salary, leadership can’t afford not to create vibrant, healthy work environments that keep employees engaged and thriving. Wondering where to start? Here’s 5 retention strategies successful company leaders swear by.
Hire The Best Talent
Retaining top talent starts with hiring top talent, as told by former Chief Talent Officer of Netflix, Patty McCord. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, McCord, the first chief talent officer for Netflix, offered the company’s top retention strategies, beginning with: Hire only “A” players.
“The best thing you can do for employees—a perk better than foosball or free sushi—is hire only “A” players to work alongside them. Excellent colleagues trump everything else.”
It’s that simple- A company’s greatest asset is its employees. Retain yours by hiring the best.
Invest In The Future
Anthony Smith, CEO and founder of Insightly, shares this tip: Make Employees Part Of The Big Picture.
“The best benefit you can provide to your employees is the opportunity to make a difference through their work and help guide the course of the company,” Smith says. “Benefits such as clear and frequent communication on company happenings, individual and department direction, and big-picture company direction make all the difference in employee happiness.”
Engaging employees in the future of your company keeps them a part of a future at your company.
Implement All-Encompassing Benefits
Gone are the days when employee wellness was “nice to have.” It’s now a 21st century must to banish burnout, stress and anxiety. Instead, replace it with a culture of productive, creative and resilient humans.
“There are many ways to supplement salary by assisting employees in other areas of their lives. You can offer an extra level of life insurance or disability insurance for employees to protect their incomes,” Bobby Hotaling, president and CEO of The Hotaling Group says. “Other ancillary benefits, such as dental, optical [and] wellness, are all well received by employees. And gym memberships and transit benefits are great perks to keep employees happy and healthy. It is important to [provide] higher benefits so your employees know that you truly care about them and their families.”
Today’s employees expect an approach to benefits that meets their unique needs and that reaches beyond “traditional benefits.”
This includes wellness, such as a focus on sleep, nutrition, meditation, self development.
“Your [company’s] wellness program should focus on not only physical well-being but also on mental and emotional health to remain relevant…” Alan Kohll, founder and president of TotalWellness, explains. “Besides fitness and nutrition, focusing on a holistic wellness program will also include stress management, financial health, mental health and emotional health. Including this type of education in your wellness program is guaranteed to and attract and appeal to this generation of professionals on a personal level.”
Providing this all-encompassing approach to wellness means keeping top talent around for longer.
Encourage Workplace Flexibility
Employees are no longer interested in a rigid work environment that doesn’t value their work-life balance. However, you can’t have a workforce made up solely of telecommuters working whenever they want. So how do you determine how flexible to be?
Trusting employees to be responsible for their work/life balance is the answer that Avi Steinlauf, CEO of Edmunds, offers.
“At Edmunds, we subscribe to the values of transparency, resourcefulness, urgency, simplicity, and togetherness – which taken together spells out T.R.U.S.T,” Avi Steinlauf, CEO of Edmunds, says. “Everything we do here ties back to these core values. We also empower everyone to set their own schedules to find a work/life balance that works for them. We are a results-oriented culture, and by supporting and trusting each individual to achieve these results on their terms, they are responding with that same support and trust.”
Retain your employees by encouraging workplace flexibility, and also by trusting your team to respond with increased loyalty and productivity.
Know Where You Can Improve
Regardless of how high your company’s retention rates are, there will still be some turnover. When an employee does leave, don’t miss the opportunity to gather as much feedback as you can.
Location Labs, a California-based software company, boasts a 95 percent employee retention rate. The secret? Extract Maximum Feedback When People Do Leave.
“Everyone who leaves, whether they’re great or not, has an exit interview,” Josh Grossman, former COO, said. “When you’re trying to run as fast as you possibly can and someone raises a concern, you might say, ‘Okay, we got it, but we gotta keep going.’ When someone leaves, it’s a smack in the face to wake up and prioritize that feedback.”
Improvement starts with knowing where. Rely on your employees to give their honest feedback. A company that listens to its people creates a culture that flourishes.
We know the only way organizations can prosper and flourish is by investing in people. We’d love to hear what innovative things you are doing to retain your workforce. Share your ideas with us, and we’ll include them in our post.