Attrition Control: 7 Employee Retention Strategies
Companies, during and after Covid-19, have had to deal with countless predicaments. Sadly, things will not get better any time soon, as the reports of an oncoming recession have already clouded the various sectors.
Taking notes from the Great Depression (1920) and Great Recession (2008), necessary measures are being adopted by organisations across the world.
Terms like layoffs, furloughs, mass firings, et. al headlined every 3 in 5 news articles published in the last year. The most recent example could be Unacademy layoffs, where the company let go ~600 employees. What could be the reason behind this? Do companies really not need human capital anymore?
There could be many reasons behind this but organisations at this point should be focused on only one thing i.e. Making every penny count, and making every bet a winner. In other words, deploying a unique combination of attrition and retention.
Familiarising with Attrition and Retention
Attrition:
Attrition, in simple terms, refers to a deliberate but gradual reduction of human capital. This normally happens due to resignations or retirements without replacements. The ‘Attrition Rate’ or ‘Churn Rate’ defines the number of employees leaving or being let go by organisations during a given period.
While dealing with major issues, organisations have tried every spell in the book to maintain a healthy Churn Rate. This is to prevent the impact an unhealthy churn rate can have on future hiring and growth of the organisation.
Retention:
Companies are not bothered about the churn rate as much as they are about the organisation’s future. But, there’s one important thing, they need to consider viz. Retaining the right people.
A large chunk of the Indian working population has exited the workforce. In the last quarter of FY2022, IT service companies reported 20% attrition, whereas, an organisation like Wipro reported an attrition rate of 23.8%.
Even when firms are offering high salaries, it’s becoming difficult to retain employees. Let’s take a look at why employees are quitting their jobs
Why Are Employees Leaving Companies?
These are some of the top reasons. You can consider these reasons while creating an effective retention strategy.
– Inadequate salary
– Non-competitive perks and benefits package
– Overworked and/or unsupported
– Limited career advancement
– Need for better work-life balance
– Desire to make a change
Why Does Employee Retention Matter?
Losing a talented employee can be quite expensive for organisations. According to the SHRM report, an organisation can spend upwards of $20,000 to $30,000 to recruit and train employees or managers that make $40,000 a year. This expense excludes factors like interview time, knowledge, cultural impact and productivity.
When retention rates are low in an organisation motivation, productivity, and performance get impacted massively. More than 77% of exits in an organisation can be prevented by just addressing employees’ grievances in time.
In some regions, the job market favours employers and skilled candidates don’t have to wait for long to get enticing offers from another company. So even if letting go of some of the employees might feel like the right thing to do, keeping the retained ones happy should be your top priority.
Here are some innovative employee retention strategies that you can use.
Innovative Employee Retention Strategies:
Hiring for Cultural Fit:
Skill development takes time, therefore, it is wise to hire talent matching your organisation’s culture. When employees feel comfortable, they interact and blend with other employees quickly and also contribute more.
80% of employee turnover relies on wrong hiring decisions. Therefore, HRs should ask questio ns during the interview that get them more information about the applicant.
Hybrid Workplaces:
During the pandemic, people got accustomed to working from home. A report published by TOI showed that 88% of Indians preferred working from home rather than travelling to work. Meanwhile, employers are not completely on board with this idea. They rather choose accountability, and presence over productivity, cost-effectiveness, and reduced absenteeism.
Hybrid workplaces might seem difficult to manage but they can save infrastructure costs and overhead costs, and also reduce office politics. Employers no longer have to fish for employees who stay near the office. Hybrid work model gives them access to a bigger talent pool and enables them to hire people from anywhere across the country.
Reward Programmes:
Results are easy to measure and reward, but what about the efforts that go behind getting them. Employees work hard and even in some cases come with plans and processes to achieve targets or get the desired results, but only the people who actually make it get rewarded.
As an employer, understanding the importance of efforts and recognizing them is the best way to keep your employees motivated.
Sabbatical Programmes:
In India, employees prefer leaving their jobs in order to take a break from the hectic life and schedule. ‘I need a break’ is the most common answer that HRs get to hear in exit interviews.
Sabbatical leaves programs can be a perfect solution for such employees. Employers can show their appreciation to the employees by offering them the option of such long leaves.
Also, employees can benefit a lot from taking a sabbatical leave. They can spend this time learning new skills or working on any passion project while getting a chance to spend time with their family.
Employees who come back after these long leaves come back more motivated and refreshed.
Modifying Work Responsibilities:
Employees often get bored doing the same tasks every day. To make it interesting, you can involve them in other tasks or activities that give them an opportunity to work with other departments.
Doing this will enable them to learn, generate better ideas, and form stronger coworker relationships.
In other cases, you can encourage them to show their creativity which could help boost their personal growth.
Google has tried this before with their 80/20 program. They allow employees to work on other projects of their interest.
Shaping their Growth:
Among the many employee retention strategies, this is the most crucial one. When ambitious employees don’t see themselves achieving their goals or reaching the career points they were supposed to, they will quit their jobs in an instant.
Helping employees achieve their short-term goals is the best way to show them that you care about their future. Most millennials and Gen-Z workforce are ready to work for employers paying lower salaries but helping them achieve their goals.
Building a Safe Work Environment:
If you wish to call your employees back to work, you also need to ensure that their safety is your top priority. Even though the pandemic has toned down a lot when compared to last year, it is still a major concern. Setting some ground rules and safe practices can contribute to keeping the office environment safer.
Another aspect of safety that you need to consider is the safety of your female employees. Complaints related to harassment, eve-teasing, and stalking should be taken seriously with prompt action.
Conclusion
Employers around the world are doing their best while exploring new options to keep their employees happy. There still stands a chance that some employees will leave your organisation sooner or later. But, these employee retention strategies can make them reconsider their decisions. Who knows, someday they might come back to work for you again.
