Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Improve Employee Retention | #hrmanagement #hrexecutive

Most business owners do their best to hire top-performing employees who will serve their business well and promote profitability. However, poor employee retention is a problem that many companies encounter, and not all of them understand the reasons why. If you’re trying to hold onto your top talent but failing miserably, it might have something to do with some of the following mistakes. 

Photo by Razvan Chisu on Unsplash

You’re Overworking Them

If employees feel overworked, underappreciated, or they’re doing the work of more than one person due to staffing shortages, you might find that they don’t stay with your company for as long as you would like. 

Rather than overloading your team with too many tasks for them to achieve comfortably, outsource work that doesn’t have to remain within your business. For example, CopyPress can take care of your content writing needs, while accountants can manage your books. You might even be able to outsource data entry to virtual assistants and IT to an external services provider. 

Identify time-consuming tasks within your business that your team is currently doing and see if you can lighten their load. Outsourcing might end up being one of the best things you do for both staff retention and happiness.                   

Too Many Rules and Procedures

Every business needs rules, no matter its size. Rules keep employees safe and ensure you’re running a profitable business. However, if your workplace has strict guidelines with no wiggle room, you might not hold onto your best-performing employees for long. 

Rules might be necessary, but they don’t have to be inflexible for everything. For example, you might set your working hours as nine to five, but when you don’t allow your team to start earlier, leave earlier, or attend important errands during the day, they might start looking for workplaces that do offer such flexibility. 

You might also set timeframes for PTO requests, but not everyone will be in a situation to abide by them. Considering all time-off requests, even if they fall outside your required notice period, might work in your favor. 

You Don’t Allow Remote Working

Not all workplaces can function with a remote team, especially if you offer in-person customer service. However, if you do have some positions that at-home workers can fill, be open to the idea of a remote workforce. 

Remote workers not only get to enjoy a better work-life balance, but they can avoid long commutes and sometimes even reward their employers with increased productivity. If you’re denying your employees these benefits in an industry heavily dominated by remote workers, you might find that some choose to seek out employment opportunities elsewhere to get them.   

You Provide No Perks or Benefits

It’s easy to assume that employees will be happy with their paycheck and nothing else because at least they have a job. Workers might be satisfied with their work, but that doesn’t mean they are willing to work for a paycheck alone. 

Don’t underestimate the importance of providing your team with more than the bare minimum. Health insurance, retirement funds, share options, and even perks like wellness checks and free lunches might all be well-appreciated and show your team that you care. Failure to offer such options might see your team seeking out jobs with employers that can provide more than what you are willing to. 

You Tolerate Your Worst Performers

Attracting top talent can be challenging, but retaining it can be even harder when you have poor performers who don’t lift their weight and cause problems for their co-workers. As challenging as it might be to let go of any employees, even bad ones, retaining those who don’t meet your expectations can sometimes mean that your best workers won’t stay. By not correcting poor work ethic, you might inadvertently show that there’s no value or reward in working hard or to your expectations, especially when everyone is treated equally for any effort. 

In the same breath, it’s important to reward your high achievers. Recognize their accomplishments, provide incentives to achieve, and praise those who do their job to the highest standard. You might even put more effort into performance reviews, making them personal and highlighting their efforts on specific achievements throughout the year. 

Employee retention is one of the biggest challenges employers face, but it doesn’t have to be. If you can avoid making some of these mistakes above, treat your employees well, and give them every opportunity to learn and grow, you might be well on your way to having a loyal workforce that works hard for your business and values your leadership.