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Employers explore strategies that impact employee retention and turnover positively

Employers explore strategies that impact employee retention & turnover positively

 

May 6, 2022

 

 

Intro

 

The past year has seen months with the largest departures of employees on record. This action by employees, now often referred to as The Great Resignation, has been quite the challenge for organizations across industries and even as we move past the pandemic, retaining employees continues to be a top ongoing challenge in most work environments.   Unfortunately for employers, if their organization is experiencing high turnover, chances are they’re also experiencing relatively high financial losses.

 

Research suggests that it can cost as much as 50% or more of an employee’s annual salary to replace a current employee. The costs of reviewing applications, processing candidates, conducting interviews, training and purchasing equipment for new hires aren’t only monetary—they also result in lost time and productivity, which can negatively impact company culture.   Given the high cost of losing an employee, retention should be a top priority for every organization—even more so as today’s workplace continues to be shaped by the pandemic.

 

The pandemic has driven many employees to voluntarily leave their jobs for better compensation, benefits, and workplace environment factors such as work-life balance and remote or hybrid arrangements. As employers develop plans for the future of their workplace, critical employee retention factors, including meaningful benefits and career development opportunities, must be thoughtfully included as part of a strategy to keep employees.

 

First Steps

 

Both internal and external factors can influence employee retention. In today’s landscape, examples of external factors can include unemployment rates, the local economy, industry competition and industry compensation standards. While employers can’t always control those external factors, they can strive to understand the current talent market and focus on how they can meet the needs of employees and improve employee retention in their workplace.

 

One of the first steps to adapting to the new ways of work and meeting the new needs of employees in order to improve retention is for employers to take an honest look at their overall benefits programs and overall approach to employee well-being, always an important topic, but now positioned front & center due to the events of the last few years. This involves identifying opportunities to make changes if needed, by asking employees what is important to them and then employers need to follow through by taking action.

 

Also, employee communication can strategically help drive new benefits when done frequently and openly. Organizations that are already finding new ways to innovate and evolve their existing benefits have an advantage in standing out to employees. Much time, effort and resources go into benefit plans, so ensure that employees understand their benefits and how to use them.  The most successful communication strategy should start with the open enrollment season and then, just as important, continue to communicate effectively throughout the year when employees and their families may actually be using their benefits to access care.

 

Shifting benefits communication strategies to enable employees to take advantage of all of their benefits not only around open enrollment, but year-round could offer huge rewards for organizations looking to support their employees and increase retention. By supporting employees beyond open enrollment, and effectively communicating every benefit that is offered, employees will feel loyal and secure year-round.

 

Resource

 

We have put together an HR Toolkit that offers an overview of employee retention in today’s pandemic-era workplace as employers move and adapt forward. It contains current trends shaping today’s workplaces and how the employee experience impacts retention. Additionally, it explores workplace strategies that employers can execute to impact employee retention and turnover at their organizations positively.

 

For a copy of this HR Toolkit providing an introduction to exploring positive employee retention, click here: HR Toolkit – Employee Retention.

For clarity & assistance with finding out how retaining employees positively will improve your success with your business, reach out to Mike Young at MY-Employee Benefits Plus at mike@my-EBP.com or 714.716.4060.