In the second half of 2021, over 20 million employees quit their job, impacting businesses financially and culturally. It has become imperative for Organisations to take reactive and further proactive measures toward the new workforce paradigm.
A robust talent retention program will support organisations to attract and keep essential personnel while lowering turnover and associated expenses. It is more cost-effective to keep a good employee than to find, train, and orient a new one of the same calibre. These plans must include aspects such as work satisfaction and engagement.
Focusing on staff retention in terms of improved performance, productivity, employee morale, work quality, reduced turnover, and employee-related difficulties is well worth the time and financial effort. The bottom line is that firms may keep bright and motivated individuals who genuinely want to be a part of the company and are focused on contributing to its overall success by managing employee retention.
A recent future-fit survey conducted by pcl. shows that 38.10% of organisations last revised their talent management strategy blueprint less than a year ago, 15.24% between 1-2 years, 8.57%, over 2 years and 38.10% agreed that they do not have a documented strategy blueprint for talent management.
One of the most critical tasks for any organisation is developing and implementing a successful retention strategy. To achieve this, organisations need to:
Hire based on culture to increase the likelihood of employee retention:
Recruiters may focus on hiring individuals who fit the company. Essentially, organisations should look for and hire employees who are compatible with the company’s culture.
Nurture Loyalty:
People may feel more motivated to accomplish work that makes a difference to the organisation if they are given an honest view of its big picture — its present strategies and long-term vision. It may be an excellent tool for linking people to a company and cultivating loyalty.
Improve Compensation:
People want to work for firms that share their beliefs and principles, but they also want to be well compensated and have good benefits. Indeed, one of the most common reasons for workers leaving the organisation is due to what they consider to be unfair compensation.
It’s critical to understand how to present employees are compensated compared to competitors. Employees who feel “slighted” will leave and go to the company paid the most. This does not imply that the company must offer the highest compensation, but it must be reasonable and reasonably competitive.
Enable Flexible Work Schedule:
The pandemic brought about long-term changes in how work is carried out. According to a pcl. recent survey, more than half of workers would contemplate quitting their jobs if they were not given some degree of space and time freedom. Employees who have the freedom to customise their work are more productive, contented, and inclined to stay. Flexible work is here to stay, and organisations should take advantage of it.
By establishing a supporting, flexible and adaptable infrastructure, employee productivity and retention will be boosted.
Facilitate Career Progression:
Employees are willing to work with companies that provide opportunities for professional development. Developing clear career paths and mentorship programs should be a crucial retention tactic. This keeps your company competitive with job seekers and provides for succession planning.
Enable a Work-Life Balance:
Thousands of employees toiled diligently throughout the pandemic, juggling personal concerns and having difficulty maintaining a work-life balance. As a result, the attention has shifted to what companies are doing to ensure employees feel supported. Human resources departments must prioritise mental health and employee help programs. Inform employees of any employee support programs or mental health resources accessible to them.
Obtain Feedback:
Using secure and anonymous avenues for employees to submit feedback can assist a business collect valuable data from reticent employees. Polls, suggestion boxes, and an anonymous email inbox can all be used.
Exit surveys can also reveal varied information regarding areas of dissatisfaction that led to an employee seeking new employment.
In conclusion, Talent management, like other strategies, must evolve to meet the changing needs of the workforce, thus the need to revise it periodically. The concept of moulding the workforce around the company is outdated and will ultimately fail. In this competitive labour market, organisations must shift from a work-life mindset to a life-work mindset and emphasise employee-centric retention strategies.
Organisations can propel the firm forward from both personnel and business standpoint by embracing the pillars of talent management and looking for new ideas and innovations.
Written by:
Edith Egbele
Analyst
