Retaining Great Employees

Retaining skilled employees is a significant issue for any business. A high rate of employee turnover can result in a loss of knowledge and skills, as well as have a direct impact on a company's bottom line. The cost of losing an employee includes not only lost productivity, but also the expense of recruiting, selecting and training a new employee. Consider the ideas presented in this article to help reduce turnover and increase satisfaction among your company's valued employees.

Why Employees Stay

Some of the factors affecting employee retention include:

• Compensation
• Strong leadership
• Challenging and fulfilling job
• Relationships with immediate supervisors and staff
• Recognition

Ways to Increase Retention

The following are strategies that may help to increase retention:

• Acknowledge and reward your employees' contributions and provide regular, constructive feedback.
• Make sure your compensation package is fair and competitive.
• Provide a forum to encourage new ideas and open communication.
• Provide training programs and mentoring to enhance skills development, learning and career growth.
• Provide employee assistance, wellness and health programs.
• Support work-life balance.
• Offer flexible work arrangements, such as varied hours and the possibility of telecommuting.
• Provide leadership opportunities.

Employee Attitude Surveys Employee attitude surveys allow your staffers to give confidential feedback on their opinions of your company in terms of satisfaction with their jobs and how their jobs and work environment might be improved. Responses to the survey can provide you with key information on how to strengthen workplace processes, policies and morale to retain existing staff and attract new employees. The results of your survey should be acted upon by your company, if possible, to help build a relationship of integrity and trust among your employees.

There are a number of different ways to conduct an employee attitude or satisfaction survey--from simply filling out a paper survey to taking an online survey or hiring a consulting firm to do all the surveying and analysis work for you. If you decide to work with a consultant to administer the survey, make sure you have access to the data. By personally reviewing the data and analysis, you’ll be able to make a better assessment of employee satisfaction.

Some of the topics that can be covered in a survey include:

• Job satisfaction
• Senior management
• Functional expertise
• Compensation
• Customer service
• Communication
• Mentoring
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Staff development

Developing a Health and Wellness Program

A company health and wellness program refers to activities or initiatives undertaken within the workplace that are designed to support your employees’ general health and well-being. Programs will often differ from business to business in terms of the range of initiatives offered. Some simple initiatives to consider include:

• Providing filtered water.
• Having your air-conditioning and heating systems checked and maintained on a regular basis.
• Increasing the nutritional quality of food available in the workplace.
• Providing desk chairs that are ergonomically designed to support the back.
• Empowering employees to include physical activity into their working day, such as encouraging walking at lunch.
• Providing incentives such as subsidized memberships to local health clubs. Be sure to check with your local health clubs to see if they offer corporate rates.
• Providing flexible work hours.

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