6 Ways for Businesses to Ensure Employees Remain Engaged & Increase Retention

When unsatisfied, employees will be on the job hunt. Given this, any business will willingly admit that employee turnover is very expensive and an unhappy employee will constantly be on the job hunt, even more so during a crisis. What’s even more important is the ability of an organization to be able to retain employees during a crisis and after.

Here are some stats that outline the current employee-employer situation:

1. The cost to replace a highly trained employee can be as high as 200% of their annual salary
2. Almost 3 million Americans quit their job each month
3. 86% of millennials would leave their current job if they were not given adequate training and did not see career development
4. Companies that allow work from home have a 25% lower attrition rate
5. Crystal clear transparency from management can lead to 30% more employee retention
6. 50% of all organizations face difficulties retaining their best employees
7. 87% of HR leaders consider employee retention a high priority for the next five years
8. A highly engaged employee is 75% less likely to look for another job as opposed to a disengaged employee
9. 56% of organizations improved their ROI by investing in employee engagement (Source: GreenThumbs)
10. 81% of employees believe trust in leaders is the most important employee engagement factor, followed by an employee’s immediate relationship with their supervisor.

And finally the most important statistic out of them all….

In light of the aforementioned alarming stats, here are 6 things businesses can do to keep their employees engaged:

1. Maintain a multi-level rewards & recognitions plan – The impact of recognition on retention is considerable. It boosts employee engagement and also increases productivity and loyalty. Use an employee recognitions platform to create a multi-level recognition plan that will allow management to recognize subordinates and also allow employees to recognize each other. Thus promoting an overall sense of comradery and motivation will lead to higher retention.
2. Be as transparent as possible – Transparency translates to honesty. Honesty leads to trust. Trust leads to productivity and loyalty. Companies should maintain transparency at every touchpoint. An element of being transparent is also being as human as possible; people respond to people and not logos. Maintain a level of vulnerability in your communication and don’t be scared to talk about failures and mistakes. Research, develop, and provide information that will help your employees during specific situations. Always make sure that this information is as accessible as possible.
3. Outline a clear path of growth for each employee with training & support – 65% believe that they can find a better job with a better salary and 40% would switch jobs for up to a 20% raise. One way of having the upper hand is by providing better positions. The best way to do this is by getting the employees’ input. What management believes to be best might not always be attractive to employees. Take the right input to create better positions, salaries, and experiences. Offer the right kind of support and professional training to help employees grow and achieve those better positions.
4. Stay connected & engage while working remotely – This goes for when employees are working in the office too. It is always important to remain connected with each employee throughout. A flexible work schedule can improve the employee experience. Just because employees are not in the office doesn’t mean you cannot communicate with them. Use all-inclusive engagement and communication tools like HubEngage to maintain a connection with your employees, communicate with, engage with them, and lastly; keep track of employee progress.
5. Maintain open dialogue to ensure employee well-being – A healthy and happy employee is a productive employee. Give your employees a sense of safety and make sure they know that they can come to management to discuss any discrepancies. The open-door policy can help employees and organizations address underlying issues, whether they be health, mental, environmental, or event management skills. This will lead to a dramatic improvement in the employee experience.
6. Give out incentives –  Incentives are a great way to keep employees engaged and committed to working for more than just the sake of working. It gives them the sense of knowing that their employer does take their needs into consideration and has designed an incentive plan that works for the employees thereby increasing satisfaction and lowering the need to find a new job. In other words, upping retention. Take a look at how Roche Diagnostics improved their retention with their incentive plan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Improving employee retention doesn’t come around by just improving one aspect of the business or giving them a higher salary; it is by taking a holistic approach and improving all aspects. An employee can be his/her most productive self when they aren’t bogged down by certain issues. Issues related to finances, health, purpose, and community. Address all of them to improve the employee experience. By helping your employees lead better lives companies can improve productivity and retention.