7 Ways to Improve Staff Retention

1) Recruit the right people

Staff management starts at the recruitment stage. It’s important to develop robust recruitment systems to ensure that you are employing the right people and selecting the best match against the job criteria you have defined. Potential candidates need to be given a realistic idea of what the job will entails to avoid surprises once they start and expectations should be managed from the moment an applicant reviews your advert. References are also an  indicator of the abilities and character of your new employee, so it is good practie  follow these through to highlight any concerns at the earliest opportunity.

2) Effective policies and procedures

Effective policies and procedures are the foundations for any employment relationship. Staff will need to understand company standards and what is expected of them in their day to day working life. Your team will want to know that your policies are in place and enforced if they are to respect and follow them. Make sure that your team understand how you deal with disagreements in the workplace and make them aware that issues will be dealt with promptly and in a fair manner.

3) Develop your team

Why do people leave? On a whim? Probably not. Employees may decide to leave for all different types of reasons.  Sometimes it may be that they feel that they are no longer developing their skills and see no long term future from them within the business. Develop your team and they can help develop your business. Spending time on meaningful job conversations to understand what drives your employees and how to can get the best out of them can help to boost morale and retention.

4) Spend a day in their shoes

Senior managers in many businesses routinely spend a day ‘on the shop floor’ and this can have a number of benefits.   Engaging with staff and listening to the views of those ‘on the front line’ can help to develop understanding of their roles and the day to day challenges and opportunities which are presented.   

5) Empower your team

People like to feel valued. Create an environment that aims to have continuous improvement practiced by staff at all levels of the organisation. Creating the conditions which enable individuals to take ownership of their roles, be creative and put forward ideas will hopefully lead to improved productivity for the business. Engaged and motivated staff are likely to feel more confident in asking questions and challenging their peers in a positive manner.

6) Find out why staff leave

Obtaining feedback from ‘exit interviews’ can be a good way to understand the reasons why employees wish to leave.   If you understand the reason people decide to move on, it may help you to identify ways that you can retain your talented staff.  There may be things you can learn from these discussions which can help the business moving forward.

7) Learn from mistakes

As with anything in life, mistakes can happen. Rather than looking at a mistake as a bad thing, think about what you can learn from it and what you can do to ensure that the same situation does not happen again. If you find that there is a pattern behind the reasons employees are leaving, it is important to analyse this to see what can be learnt.  Understanding the reasons will help you to put improved systems and processes in place which reduce staff turnover and improve retention.