It is honestly crazy to see how Covid19 kickstarted a whole new level of awareness around the importance of employee retention.

Just look at the graph below.

The number of searches in employee retention on google peaked just after the start of the pandemic.

Two years after it’s still almost twice as high as the previous normal before covid19. 🤯

This means that people worldwide find a bigger interest in employee retention and are searching for more information regarding the subject. The spike in searches just after the pandemic might partly be due to an increased interest in governmental job retention schemes. But more interesting is the continued high interest in employee retention even after the worst effects of Covid19 are discharged.

The increased focus on employee retention can be seen as a consequence of a very favorable economic climate. Which have put the needs of the employees first, helping to spark The Great Resignation and making thousands of employees reconsider their job position. The increase in remote work has also become a barrier to personal interactions and relationships, making retention an even more significant challenge. All this together seems to have led to an important and necessary focus on employee retention.

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It's wild to see that it took a pandemic to really get companies interested in employee retention.😵

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The financial benefits of better employee retention. 

The high price of employee turnover is a major expense for any company.

A study conducted by Muehlemann & Leisers (2018), found that the cost of loosing an employee can range from almost nothing all the way up to $180.000. 

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‍$180.000 can seem extreme, and of course, far from every lost employee will cost this amount. It will depend on the job's complexity and how difficult it is to find an appropriate replacement for the employee. 

But as you can imagine, high retention is not just great for the financial results; it also has positive implications for a couple of other things. Below you will find some examples you might not have thought about yourself.

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Company culture. 🤸

Every time an employee leaves, it hurts the company culture. Other employees might start to wonder why and question their position at the company. Having the same engaged employees stay for longer helps build a strong culture.

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Better performance. 💪

On average, a new employee takes 1-2 years to get fully productive (Source). Also, high retention workplaces tend to have more engaged and thereby more productive employees.

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A superior employee experience. 🤝

The employee experience consists of everything an employee observes and encounters through their employment at the company. A big part of that is the relationship with co-workers. Building and retaining strong relationships is more accessible in high-retention workplaces.

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Here are 4 tips for improving retention.

You can work with retention in many ways. We have chosen 4 great tips for better retention. 

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Focus on the onboarding experience. 👉

Make sure to have a strategic and well-planned onboarding process. New employees who attend a well-structured onboarding program are 69 percent more likely to remain at a company for up to three years (Source).

Try to work with setting clear goals and expectations for their work and communicate what they should expect from the onboarding process. 

Once you have your onboarding process ready, it’s time to measure if it works as you hope. You can do that by surveying your new employees about the onboarding process. This makes you able to improve the onboarding process for future hires continuously.

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Make sure to offer new growth and career opportunities. 🌻

It’s crucial that your employees feel they’re developing. So ask your employees what motivates them and what tasks give them a sense of development. 

Also, let your employees know that they have a future with the company. That way, they are less likely to look for something else.

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Have monthly 1:1 conversations with your employees 👏

The old school annual MU interview is a thing of the past. The new school makes use of more frequent 1:1 conversations. It provides far more value to both the manager and the employee, as things evolve much faster today than in the past.

The purpose is to give people space to open up to any goals, desires, challenges, or problems in and around their work. This is an excellent opportunity to set new development goals, show your anticipation toward the employee, and make them feel recognized.

For most employees, recognition is essential. People love to feel valued and appreciated for their contributions. If they are provided with enough credit and new development goals, they won't leave to seek it somewhere else.

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Use exit surveys. 📊

No matter what you do. Some employees will still be leaving. Use this opportunity to conduct exit surveys. With the right insights, you get a great chance to improve employee retention.

And without understanding why people leave the company, how will you prevent others from leaving in the future?

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