Little details matter, and this includes the steps managers take to improve employee retention. We all understand that some of our most valued employees have immediate opportunities to leave us and join another company where they might enjoy a higher salary. But we can tempt them to stay by understanding who they are as individuals and giving them what they need, not just what they want.

Personalized Benefits Can Improve Employee Retention

One of the concerns surfacing in today’s marketplace is the lack of quality and affordable child care services. Employers who must rely on team members to work onsite, such as a health care services environment, for example, could improve employee retention by offering child care services as a benefit. Another complaint workers have voiced lately centers around the topic of bringing pets to the office. After two years of working at home and spending every day with the pet they adopted to help them through the pandemic, employees will appreciate the leadership gesture that allows them to have their pet in their cubicle. These issues are both examples of the way employers can personalize the work and benefits experience for team members. Employers who use a psychometric assessment platform to learn more about their team members can use the information to design a work experience that increases retention.

Training

You can also retain your best workers by training them for increasing responsibility at the organization. Korn Ferry research shows that “37% of professionals say upskilling/​reskilling current employees is the top way they are addressing the labor and skills shortage.” Korn Ferry analysts also report that surveyed employees who intend to stay with a company for more than five years see specific opportunities in their future. 69% believe they can satisfy their career goals at the company, and 75% anticipate they’ll have learning and development possibilities with their current employer.

If you’re not sure which employee will make the best possible manager for your sales department, use the psychometric assessment results for guidance. The employee who has been landing the big accounts in the past year may lack the necessary attributes for management. That team member may be exactly right for selling a new product in a new market. You might be surprised to learn that the team member who’s always helping co-​workers with their biggest challenges is the best candidate for the manager position. Promoting from within isn’t easy, but it can lead to a happier and more engaged workforce, especially if you take the time to groom employees from the first day of their employment with you. In a recent white paper, we’ve set out the steps managers can take to promote from within.

Meaningful Work

Management gurus talk about the need for organizations to be customer obsessed. They praise Amazon which maintains a set of Leadership Principles, developed by Jeff Bezos. The principles, as discussed in a Chief Executive article, “defined its [Amazon’s] customer-​centric culture and served as practical guideposts to help talent in the decisions and actions they made every day to innovate for customers.” 

In the digital era, successful companies rely on the unique expertise of team members to develop new products and services. But in many organizations, employees face headwinds when they try to introduce change. Management egos and old-​school processes bog down innovative thinking. Over half, 52%, of corporate leaders who participated in a Chief Executive survey, admitted they struggle with “Enabling leaders with training and methods to encourage employee-​driving innovation.” On a scale of one to 10, corporate leaders rank the idea that “innovation drives every action” at 6.9. That number needs improvement.

Digital innovation should be a key way to improve employee retention. But that doesn’t mean piecing out tasks to knowledge workers who have no idea how their role contributes to the larger picture. You don’t want your workers to feel they’re employed by the kind of company depicted in the popular streaming series, Severance.

Korn Ferry analysts say leaders should be “delivering customer grade experiences at work.” In addition to personalizing and providing training, treat your employees like your most valued customers. Give them work that they’ll find meaningful for the next few months, with a clear picture of how they’ll contribute to the bottom line for the long-term. 

Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.