Channels Of Communication And Other Employee Retention Tips | #hrmanagement #hrexecutive

For many businesses employee retention is a big problem. Recruiting the right people is a time-consuming and costly process. As is training someone and getting them to the point where they work efficiently. So, the last thing any business needs is for their staff members to leave after just a couple of years.

Employee turnover rates are increasing

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens to many companies. A recent study carried out by BambooHR uncovered the fact that, in the USA, 31% of people have quit a job within 6 months of starting a new one.

Be honest when recruiting

Surprisingly, employee retention starts at the recruitment stage. You need to be honest about what type of business you are, the pay, conditions, and the opportunities that you offer. As well as about the type of work that person will be doing.

If you are not, your new employee will soon realize that the role is not what they thought it was. At which point, they will, understandably, leave.

Onboard employees properly

Surprisingly, when it comes to employee retention, one of the biggest issues is poor onboarding. It is natural for people to want to fit in. They do not respond well to being dropped in the deep end and being expected to do a job without proper training and support. Having a good onboarding process ensures that none of those things will be an issue for your company.

This is what you need to achieve when you welcome a new employee:

•       Complete essential paperwork and legally mandated training
•       Explain the company’s mission statement and objectives. Including demonstrating to new employees how they fit into achieving that.
•       Share your company’s culture.
•       Provide physical orientation that ensures that your employee can find their way around the building, sign-in, etc.
•       Introduce employees to the team that they will be working with.
•       Tell employees about the training and development opportunities that you provide and explain how they can access them.

Doing the above will help your new employee to settle properly into your business. But they are likely to need additional support during their first few months. So, it is a good idea to assign another member of their team to look after them. To be someone they can turn to when they have questions or concerns.

Maintain a good company culture

Most employers drastically underestimate the importance of company culture. They tend to forget that when it comes to fit it is a two-way street. If an employee does not feel comfortable in the workplace, they will leave.

It is so important that when the Talent Solution experts Robert Half researched the subject they uncovered some startling figures. Forty percent of Canadian workers said they would not take their dream job if it was in a company whose culture was not a good fit for them. For US workers the figure was 35%.

How to maintain the right company culture is a huge subject, so we are not going to cover it in-depth here. But we are going to share a few tips to help you. Easy wins that not everyone thinks about doing. For example, using digital signs for company culture. They are a great way to remind everyone daily what they are there to achieve. It can be as simple as displaying your company mission statement at strategic points in the workplace. Or you can be more nuanced and share other more subtle messages that are designed to stop culture drift in its tracks.

Keep the channels of communication open

The fact that you can display any material on these screens at any time makes them an extremely powerful way of communicating with your employees. You can use text, memes, gifs, or video.

It is even possible to use touch screens to carry out on-the-spot employee surveys or poll them for their opinion on changes you are planning to make. Which is all part of keeping the channels of communication open. Something that is also vital if you want to retain your employees.

Provide ongoing training in easy to digest formats

Some firms also use digital screens on the shop floor to show short training videos. Delivering training in short bursts, without pulling people out of their work environment is a good way to nip bad habits in the bud.

Screens are also a great way to deliver digitally based training that can be easily accessed by employees. People like the firms that they work for to invest in them, so providing them with ways to gain further qualifications improves retention as well as helps people to quickly become better at their jobs.

In conclusion

There is no doubt that employee retention is a big challenge for employers. But, as you can see there is a lot that business owners can do to reduce the negative impact this issue has on their company. Often, simply doing things properly from the start is enough to make a huge positive difference.