What Organisations Can Do

Retention is not always easy

Talent management and employee retention is critical to the success of an organisation. Without a focus and an understanding of people, behaviours, and what engagement and rewards strategies work best for your culture, attracting the right talent and reducing turnover can be even more difficult.

It's not always easy to help, so here is an Employee Engagement and Retention Checklist with a high level overview of steps to take toward success with some employee retention strategies.

People decide to switch jobs for a wide variety of reasons. Attracting new blood to your workforce is a good thing, but a constant turnover is detrimental to performance, morale, and the overall sustainability.

Some reasons for turnover are related to personal and life changes and completely unrelated to the job itself, so a business can't expect to impact or change all departures, although with workers switching jobs roughly every 4.4 years, businesses do need to be focused on the aspects of talent management and employee retention they can influence.

Strategies for attracting and retaining talent

So, what are some of the best practices for attracting talent and reducing turnover?

1. Provide career navigation and personal branding strategies from the start. Involve employees in the talent management and recruitment process as much as possible. Ask questions to find out what attracted them to your organisation to begin with, what motivates them, and what keeps them engaged. Employee development is also key; it's important to provide coaching, educational opportunities, and training programmes for your workforce. By letting potential hires and employees alike know your organisation will help them plan their desired path, set concrete goals, and provide support to help them achieve those goals, you will help attract talent and increase engagement and retention.
2. Hiring the right Managers makes all the difference. Managers are often involved in the interview process. They are one of the first interactions a potential new hire has with the organisation. It is well documented that individuals leave their bosses, not their organisations. So it's critical to work closely to make sure there's a consistent open line of communication between potential new hires and those who would be their managers, and that Managers are working collaboratively and positively with their employees to reduce turnover.
3. Work to create a culture of trust. An organisation with a culture of trust gets good PR — and good PR goes a long way toward increasing employee referrals and reducing talent acquisition costs. Organisations with higher levels of trust and transparency often have higher levels of performance and retention also reducing turnover and talent acquisition costs. An organisation with a culture of distrust is an organisation destined to be doomed. To attract good talent and maintain positive employee retention make sure your organisation has a culture of trust, not distrust.
4. Recognise good performance. Be it financially or with some other non-monetary benefits, make sure employees are recognised when they achieve their goals and perform above and beyond. No one wants to work for an organisation where they go ignored. Potential new hires can pick up this. Pulse your workforce for their preferred means of recognition and then implement various strategies based on that feedback. With workforce demographics, changing a one size fits all approach no longer works. It's important to pay attention to what motivates different employees. Not all employees prefer to be recognised for a job well done in the same ways. If unsure of the best ways to engage and retain employees – ASK THEM. Make communicating these policies to potential new hires part of your talent management process.
5. Hire the right kind of employees who are both a skills and culture fit. When trying to attract new talent a focus on both aspects is important to success. Sure, some people are "shooting stars", and you'd be lucky to catch them, but if they're not a fit for the culture of your organisation then you're not likely to see maximum performance or retention from the new hire. By understanding your culture and interviewing and choosing the right hires in the first place, you're getting a leg up on setting up a relationship that can last.

Author: Scott Span