As the economy continues to recover from the pandemic, the “Great Resignation” looms over 2022. Droves of employees voluntarily leave their workplace every month, 4.4 million during February alone, and that trend is showing no signs of slowing. Retaining workers is harder than ever. Many employers are combatting this trend simply by increasing their recruitment efforts.
The focus should be on streamlining and refining efforts, rather than doubling down on methods that aren’t working. Today we’ll be discussing how increasing retention can benefit both the worker and the employer.
Reduce Hiring Costs Significantly
New hires take both time and resources to fully onboard. In the U.S. the average cost per hire has slowly gone up, reaching $4,400 in 2022. If you’re a larger company or org that hires hundreds or even thousands of new faces a year, this number quickly multiplies exponentially.
Bad hires represent an even larger individual cost. Each new employee that doesn’t pan out can cost upwards of $15,000 when onboarding and other costs are considered. If you can avoid having to constantly replace existing employees you will save countless thousands of dollars over the course of just a few years.
Develop An Effective Training Process
It’s important that the quality of the instructions and the knowledge transfer that happens during onboarding is not overlooked. You need current employees that are knowledgeable guides when it comes to training new employees. If your new team members don’t have a proper mentor during the training period, they are more likely to make mistakes and have a difficult time getting up to speed.
Create A Positive Workplace Environment
Stability is one of the key ingredients to creating a positive work environment with satisfied employees. If the people around them are constantly changing, it becomes nearly impossible for your existing workers to feel at home. Without a solid team, your organization won’t form an identity in their minds.
Encouraging your employees to provide feedback about why they’re choosing to leave the company can help you gain better insight into the workplace environment. Likely, if it’s not simply a better job opportunity, they’re leaving because they’re not feeling valued. Finding areas where your company isn’t satisfying your workers leads to both increased retention, and a positive work environment.
Bolster Your Reputation
Both internally and externally, companies that are constantly losing workers are seen as failing, especially if replacements are arriving slowly. Your employees will begin to become uncertain. Job stability will come into question, and as a result, more employees will leave for a company they perceive to be more stable.
On the other hand, having a high employee retention rate is important and signals to all that your company is worth working for. Celebrating your most experienced employees is a signal to others that you understand the worth of your workers as well. Your public image should reflect that.
Improve Long-Term Productivity
When a new employee first joins a company, their productivity isn’t going to peak quickly. They need to form relationships, understand the work style of your company, and build their own skillset through training and observation. It could take a year or two for them to really start showing you what they can do. With that in mind, it’s easy to see how constantly replacing old hires with new ones could cripple long-term productivity.
Better Customer Experiences
Expert help cannot be replaced or replicated. Companies with a customer-oriented focus often have departments of experts that can help customers with their problems or questions. Tech companies like Apple and Best Buy have their Genius Bar and Geek Squad that provide customers with expert help that is easy to access. These customer benefits have solidified their companies’ reputation, but become less and less effective the fewer experts they have available. Without retention, the experience of a buyer is noticeably diminished.
