The one constant in life changes, and the workplace is no exception. A projected 46.6 million Americans lost their employment in 2022, a significant rise from the pre-pandemic record of 42.1 million in 2019. This is happening in countries all across the world. For example, employment openings in the United Kingdom will reach an all-time high in late 2021.

However, these figures indicate the consistency with which employees swap businesses and vocations. Different firms’ fortunes are constantly growing and declining, new markets and sectors emerge while others go away, and employees—the very individuals driving those changes—are constantly evolving, both professionally and emotionally. That is why it is critical for businesses to have a good staff retention strategy.

Topping agendas:

The epidemic caused many people to reconsider their professional goals, resulting in a major talent drain nicknamed the “Great Resignation.” Now is the time for businesses to follow suit and rethink their approach to people management and talent retention. What is the secret to creating a work atmosphere that motivates workers to remain and thrive? Employee involvement.

When employees are at risk of leaving, their degree of involvement with the company decreases. According to data from our employee engagement platform, Workday Peakon Employee Voice, an employee’s engagement metrics usually disclose warning flags nine months before they leave a business. Not only can measuring employee engagement provide you with insight into the variables influencing employee turnover, but it also allows your employees to weigh in on topics that are important to them. This fosters a culture in which workers feel empowered to speak up and take action.

In this post, we’ll explain each of the key concepts—including employee retention, employee happiness, and employee experience—before discussing the advantages of focusing on employee retention and the proven measures firms can take to assist their workers at work.

What is employee Retention?

Employee retention, often known as talent retention, is a catch-all phrase. It essentially refers to any attempt made by a company to decrease staff turnover. Employee retention often refers to workers who leave their jobs freely, but it is also vital to address involuntary turnovers, such as redundancies or firings.

Employee retention used to entail providing employees with competitive wages and benefits, as well as the tools they needed to do their jobs. However, as management theory has grown, so has our knowledge of the factors that contribute to employee turnover. We now realize that retention is impacted by the complete breadth of an employee’s experience in the workplace by examining the quality of their onboarding, the hours they’re required to work, and the diversity of their team.

What is Employee Engagement?

To understand this you need to understand some terminologies:

Employee value proposition: An unwritten contract between an employer and an employee that governs every transaction between the two sides, from compensation to work performed.

Employee experience: It refers to the whole journey that each employee has within the firm, from onboarding through leave. It encompasses every potential touchpoint, such as an employee’s connection with their team leader, workplace flexibility, or your company’s recycling program.

Employee engagement: Whereas employee experience refers to an employee’s journey, employee engagement reflects the quality of that journey. Engaged employee is dedicated to their work, their coworkers, and their own growth, usually going above and beyond without feeling obligated to do so.

Employee satisfaction: Employee satisfaction, which is sometimes used interchangeably with engagement, is better understood as the emotional component of employee engagement. When a person is satisfied with their job, their engagement levels are likely to be high. However, satisfaction is only one of the characteristics driving engagement, among others such as wellness and belonging.

The link between employee retention and employee engagement:

Employee engagement is one of the most accurate predictors of employee turnover. Because employee retention initiatives focus on improving the overall workplace experience in order to keep talent for a longer period of time, and employee engagement is best understood as a reflection of the quality of each individual’s work life, a company’s retention strategy has a direct and measurable impact on overall engagement.

The connection between retention and engagement extends beyond the capacity to predict the impact of a retention strategy on employee turnover. Because nearly every aspect of an employee’s work life influences engagement—from office location to the transparency with which conversations about wages and benefits are handled—measuring engagement accurately and on a regular basis provides a business with a strong understanding of the pain points affecting retention rates.

The way engagement and retention are assessed strengthens the connection even further. Historically, the departure interview was the most prevalent tool for evaluating employee turnover, in which workers were asked questions regarding their reasons for leaving as well as their perspectives on the organization as a whole. Similarly, employee engagement is generally monitored through a survey system, however, such questions are asked more frequently. The main advantage of this latter strategy is that the information is available before each person quits, allowing firms to be proactive.

Key benefits of employee Retention:

In contrast to other corporate priorities, the value of employee retention provides a clear and current business need: keeping valuable personnel. With the cost of replacing an employee ranging from 50% to 250% of their yearly compensation, not to mention the time it takes to acquire, onboard, and train them, it’s critical to act immediately and establish a work environment that’s diverse, engaging and has high overall job satisfaction. We’ll go into more depth about how to enhance employee retention rates in the next sections, but first, it’s critical to understand the good and bad consequences that high staff turnover and low talent retention may have on your firm.

All signals point to the opposite for corporations who believe the Great Resignation is slowing. According to the Future Forum Pulse (a poll of 10,569 knowledge workers from the United States, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom), 57% of global knowledge workers are open to looking for a new job in the coming year. Keeping this in mind, consider the four business benefits of talent retention listed below.

• Costs for recruiting and training have been reduced. One of the most obvious advantages of retention is the reduction in the expenses of acquiring and training new employees. Voluntary turnover is expected to cost US firms $1 trillion each year. Reducing such loss can have a significant impact on revenue.
• Culture and morale have improved. The influence of high turnover on organizational culture is difficult to exaggerate. When people observe a revolving door of departing colleagues, it can be difficult to build work connections, the importance of which cannot be stressed. In fact, a landmark Gallup survey found that organizations with a larger percentage of “best friends” had 36% fewer safety accidents, 7% more engaged consumers, and 12% higher profit.
• Internal development of high-level talent. Organizations that thrive in internal mobility retain employees for an average of 5.4 years, nearly twice as long as companies that struggle with it, according to 2022 LinkedIn analysis. By allowing employees to advance to higher-level positions, you not only save time and money on hiring, but you also keep them for a longer period of time.
• Improved customer interactions. Having regular points of contact at your firm will always strengthen client interactions, regardless of industry. Customers will not only be dealing with new individuals every time they visit, but personnel will also lack the necessary training and customer expertise to respond appropriately.

How to improve employee retention rates?

The top three criteria pushing individuals to seek a new job, according to the LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022 study, were work-life balance, salary and perks, and culture. What those data don’t tell is what your constituents desire. Improving employee retention requires you to engage your staff in a discussion about what aspects are most important to them. It’s critical to understand that, given enough time, people will always quit their current position. Regardless of how productive they are in that role or how much assistance and direction their management offers, an employee will eventually leave. That move might be the result of a promotion, a better opportunity with a new company, or a desire to change career paths completely. Companies with the best retention rates anticipate the causes of turnover and offer internal growth opportunities to meet those needs as they occur. This can improve Employee Retention.

 4 Employee Engagement and Retention Strategies:

What is the significance of employee engagement? It affects every element of your organization, and we’ll look at specific techniques to boost engagement for the sake of staff retention.

1. Keep staff up to date on corporate news:

Anxiety is bred from uncertainty. Keeping your employees informed about corporate issues that affect them is a simple and effective strategy to boost employee retention.

An internal corporate newsletter is an excellent method to provide your staff with a concentrated, regular source of company information. There is a wealth of data available to help you enhance your internal newsletter, and you can track email newsletter engagement to get a sense of overall involvement.

Using ContactMonkey’s email template generator, you can quickly create and send email newsletters. Begin from scratch or browse our library of newsletter templates to discover one that fits your company’s identity and style.

2. Track participation via internal communications

If your organization suffers lower-than-normal turnover following your efforts, you’ll know your staff retention initiatives are effective. However, lesser turnover does not inherently imply more employee engagement. Use internal communications to acquire a more thorough view of your engagement situation. Track email analytics such as open rate, click-through rate, and read time to determine the optimal times to send staff newsletters and enhance email engagement. This data can inform you where you should focus your efforts and whether any employees are tuning out of your business.

3. Create a plan for staff engagement

Much of what we’ve discussed so far may be planned and executed as part of an employee engagement strategy. A plan for employee engagement covers your engagement goals, personnel engagement, and measuring methodologies. There are various benefits to planning your employee engagement activities ahead of time. Make your planned activities more important to your employees by advertising them ahead of time. Collect employee input, use employee engagement software, and make modifications based on their ideas to determine which events your employees like.

4. Don’t overburden your personnel

Not all employee engagement methods revolve around giving your staff more things to do. Understanding how your workers interact with their jobs is critical for preventing work overload.

If your workers are experiencing professional or personal difficulties, demonstrate to them that their well-being is vital to you and your company. Give them everything they need to get back on track, whether it’s job-related therapy or simply a few days off to clear their heads.It is critical that your employees feel supported by your firm, therefore make sure that your employee engagement and retention plan prioritize their well-being.

For more tips on improving your corporate culture, check out the infographic below!

Infographic Provided by Halock Security Labs, a HIPAA compliance consulting firm