The recent pandemic has impacted nearly all areas of our lives, including health, family, education, and general daily living. The employment market has also suffered because of it as well. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has commented that although the employment market is in recovery, the gaps created by the pandemic will not be immediately filled, and could take years to do so.
Although the ILO has suggested a human-centered approach to recovery, the employment market is expected to be negatively affected for years to come. With this in mind, you’ll want to retain the staff you have and employ individuals that will be an asset to your company, and aren’t just selected because they were the best of an inadequate bunch. To achieve both of these things, you’ll need to have an attractive employee package, and that’s just for starters. If this is something you need to consider, read on for 6 guaranteed solutions for employee retention.
1. Have an Attractive Benefits Package
Your employees will more than likely spend more time at their place of work, or working for you from home than they will spend time with their family when they are of working age. During this time, they may have families, get ill, require health care or disability benefits, and knowing that their employer is able to financially support them in some way will be a huge weight from their minds and a sure-fire way to retain employees.
This doesn’t always have to be expensive, and you could even offer to pay part of the benefits plan or provide a scaled structure with employees also contributing if they want extras added onto the package. If you’re unsure of what’s out there, you can look at this website to find out affordable benefit plans near you. By doing some research into what’s available and what you plan to provide, you’ll be able to make an informed choice about what’s best for your employees. Perhaps the way to begin looking at this is to consider what cover you would expect if you were in their shoes because they deserve the same as you.
2. Pay What Your Employees Are Worth
Although it’s a time for many of us to tighten our purse strings, it doesn’t mean that we have to do this to the detriment of others, especially our employees. Let’s face it, would you like to be paid an inadequate salary when you know your position commands a higher one? No, of course not. So why would you expect others to, or expect them to stay working for you?
Part of showing you value your employees, alongside having an attractive benefits package, is paying them what they’re worth. It’s natural for employees to want to feel valued and, if they do, they’re more than likely to repay that by going that extra mile on your behalf. At the very minimum, people want to be able to afford their rent or mortgage, utility bills, travel costs and have some disposable income. If they’re unable to do that, they’ll eventually look elsewhere.
3. Have Opportunities For Career Progression
No one wants to be stuck in a dead-end job, so having a clear path for career progression is important if you want to retain employees you value. On the other side of the coin, you may see potential in one member of staff that they don’t see in themselves. By acting on this, you’ll have loyal members of staff and one that can benefit your business. This could be by sending them on training courses or in-house training, or even a mixture of both.
The main thing is for your employees to know that they can progress in your business, and you’re willing to invest in them. If your employees are happy in your company and know they can have a future within it, they’ll be less likely to look for alternative employment. This will inspire them to better themselves and make them less likely to leave your company knowing they can build on their existing skills, especially in this current economic climate.
4. Provide A Flexible Work Environment
We’ve learned many things about ourselves and our lives, both professional and personal, during this pandemic. Indeed, this has been an unprecedented time that has required us all to think outside the box, adapting and reacting to our changing landscapes.
When we were told to isolate, the employment market had to react. More of us began working from home, and some businesses found that it was more beneficial for their employees to do so. Add flexitime to this, then you have working hours that can fit around the commitments of some of your employees, perhaps parents or those with elderly or disabled dependents, who need to be able to take their loved ones to appointments or participate in the daily school run.
Having a flexible work environment helps those employees that may need to vary their start and finishing times around their regular obligations. Being able to alternate working from home will take the stress out of needing to pay for a carer for those they need to be caring for. In turn, this provides them with more disposable income, which benefits their quality of life and the trade-off for you is you have employees that value the flexibility you provide them.
5. Have A Comfortable Work Space And Culture
When in the workplace, your staff needs to work in a place that is going to be conducive to their work, a place where they’ll want to work because it’s comfortable, both in style and atmosphere.
For your employees to do what you expect of them, and do it well, they need to have good equipment to enhance their productivity, which also has to be safe to use and cost-effective at the same time. Your premises need to be able to adapt to the different temperatures that inevitably occur with changing seasons. For instance, without adequate air conditioning when it’s extremely hot, it’ll be hard for your employees to remain productive if there are machines on as well. If it’s cold, then they’ll also need to be kept warm. It’s also worth mentioning at this point that you should check the legal requirements in respect of extreme weather conditions, as well as general workplace safety if in the unlikely event you haven’t already.
In addition, you’ll also need to meet their personal needs whilst they’re at work, including clean and sanitary washroom facilities, a kitchen or cafeteria, and perhaps even a social room, depending on the size of your business, number of employees, and budget. At the very least, aside from washroom facilities, there should be a place where they can eat, away from their usual working environment.
In respect of culture, this is where you’ll need to be seen to be leading by example. Be friendly, respectful, and polite to everyone you interact with whilst working. Expect the same from all of your staff, regardless of their position. Have a no-tolerance approach to bullying or intimidation, and nip any negative behavior in the bud before it has the chance to bloom. After all, no one wants to work in a toxic environment.
6. Celebrate The Good Stuff
At the end of the day, you’re all part of a team. Yes, you may own the company, and your staff may all have different roles and responsibilities. However, you’re all working to achieve one common goal, which is to keep your company operating. By doing this, it’s able to pay their wages, which they need to survive. Therefore, celebrate business achievements as well as department and individual achievements, whether it’s work-related or otherwise.
Having a regular newsletter is a great way to keep employees in the loop about the business and how things are doing. Having a birthday and/or congratulations section acknowledges your employees and quite rightly makes them feel valued.
Organizing periodical company events, like a Christmas party or yearly celebration of your employees, is a great way to get to know your staff, and thank them for helping get your company to where it is today.
As we stated at the beginning of our article, the worldwide employment market has been adversely affected by the recent pandemic. Although it’s forecasted to improve, it’s not something that will happen overnight. Instead, it’ll take time and be very much dependent upon how this pandemic plays out, along with any other events that could occur between now and then. The one thing you can do as an employer is retaining the staff you value, and attract potential employees with the right package as well.
Most people aren’t expecting you to go overboard, yet they’re aware of their worth, so being able to meet their needs, as a minimum, will make you an employer people want to work for. Therefore, it’s important to deliver on what you’re offering, without reneging or providing something below par. Remember, happy employees make for a good workforce, and using all, or some of our 6 suggestions, will put you on the right track to attaining and retaining them.