Employee Retention Quick-Facts:
- It costs nearly 20% of an employee’s annual salary to replace a current employee.
- Roughly 63% of employees are actively looking for a new job.
- Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their organization.
- The majority of turnover (52%) occurs in the first year of employment.
- One in four employees would leave their job for a 10% raise.
- Only 17% of organizations are aware of the costs of employee turnover.
- About 65% of employees believe they can easily find a better position that pays more.
5 Strategies to Retain Your Top Talent:
- Know who to retain. How do you identify top performers at your organization? Pinpointing rising stars is crucial to your overall retention strategy. Look for employees with the following traits: dedication to high-quality work, desire for growth, self-starter, decision-maker, critical thinker, and great communication skills.
- Provide realistic job expectations. Be explicit and clear on the responsibilities entailed in a position from the beginning. Employees should have a clear understanding of the scope of their position and have a general idea of what their day-to-day will entail. Unrealistic/untrue expectations lead to employee disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction, and ultimately attrition.
- Get compensation right. Compensation is a critical component of your overall retention strategy. If you can afford to compensate over-market, you should. You should also factor in the value of your total compensation package, which includes all the benefits you offer. It’s important to make sure the value of your total compensation package is clearly explained to new employees. Your current employees should also be continuously made aware of the benefits offered to them.
- Provide clear career-pathways. Annual performance reviews can be stifling for goal-oriented, fast-moving top performers. Instead, design an individualized career-path with clear goals and quarterly performance milestones for each employee.
- Connect employees beyond their manager. In a study completed by The Herman Group, 75% of employees leaving a position claimed they left due to a bad manager. This figure demonstrates the importance of helping employees connect with the organization beyond their direct manager. Some effective ways to do this include providing each employee with a mentor, implementing 360 degree performance reviews, or leveraging peer reviews.
