Employee retention and recruitment are interconnected practices, and both should be considered as part of a wider HR strategy.
What is employee retention?
Employee retention practices encourage a company’s staff to remain with it and to grow their career within it. These practices will help to ensure the health of a business long term. Staff become increasingly experienced in their roles and improve their productivity.
Plus, increased retention will reduce expenditure on recruitment. In fact, retention forms a key part of any recruiting strategy.
How to improve employee retention
1. Foster a positive work environment
Employees are more likely to remain in a role if they enjoy coming to work. Therefore, fostering a positive work environment is key to improving retention. This can be done by encouraging teambuilding activities and ensuring employees feel valued by each other and by management. Providing clarity via regular feedback can also help a workplace feel like an open space where employees aren’t afraid to speak their minds.
2. Work-life balance
Work-life balance is a huge factor in ensuring retention. If employees feel overworked or burned out, they’ll soon be looking at the door. Flexible working and increasing autonomy have been shown to positively impact productivity and retention rates.
Employee should be encouraged to take their annual leave. This ensures they are well rested and comfortable at work.
3. Create pathways for development
One of the main reasons an employee may leave a role is due to a lack of opportunity for development and a feeling that their career cannot progress within their current company. As a result, it is imperative that businesses create clear plans for professional development in collaboration with each of their staff as part of their wider staff retention strategies.
4. Hire right
One of the best ways to increase retention is to hire the right people. If businesses consider things like culture, on top of skills and experience, they are far more likely to employ someone who will stick around long term.
In the modern working world, candidates are more likely to be open about their career aspirations and their needs from the workplace, such as allowances for childcare or learning and development opportunities. This gives employers an opportunity to ensure they can properly fulfil those requirements, and that the role is suited to a candidate who has those needs.
MRS’ recruitment practices take a holistic look at your business’s needs. We ensure that we can recommend the right person for the job from our range of contacts throughout the logistics industry. Learn more about our talent acquisition process.