How to retain employees in 2023: What you need to know

The hiring process can be tedious for employers and HR professionals.

You are waiting for the right CVs to arrive in your inbox, then you are conducting interviews and reference checks, as well as negotiating contracts for when the right employee does take the leap.

After you find the right staff member, you want to ensure that they feel valued within your organization. Otherwise, the costly and time-consuming process could start all over again.

Recent research has shown that replacing a staff member can cost anything between a third to double the salary of the employee you are replacing.

Hence the importance of employee retention and why it should be one of your key HR priorities.

What is employee retention and why does it matter?

In short, employee retention is a company’s ability to prevent staff turnover, i.e the number of people who leave their job over a selected timeframe.

There are obvious reasons for its importance, not least the cost of replacing employees.

A key issue is that if employees are leaving your business, either voluntarily or involuntarily, you are likely suffering from a drain of experience and skills.

There is also the obvious issue of work not being done if a position is left unexpectedly vacant.

If employees feel as though they are valued, they will be happier and company morale will be better. And better morale means higher productivity.

On the other side of the coin, having the right practices and strategies in place to retain talent can improve your company’s reputation. This can be of benefit as the best talent will want to join your business, and your company will have a positive culture that people don’t want to leave.  

How to retain employees in 2023

According to recent stats, almost 90 percent of HR managers list employee retention as a top priority. Meanwhile, three out of every four US staffers said they have no intention of staying in their job for over five years.

Those are clearly conflicting statistics and suggest that HR managers are set to fail in their quest to lower staff turnover in organizations. However, that doesn’t have to be the case, as there are ways to encourage employees to stay in their jobs for a longer period of time.

In short, employee retention will be improved if you do the following:

Hire the right people

First thing is first, try to ensure that you hire the right people in the first place. The interviewing process can tell you whether, or not, a person is a good cultural fit for your organization.

Meanwhile, a candidate’s CV informs you whether they stay in jobs for extensive periods of time, or hop around to different positions. A good portion of reducing staff turnover involves getting the right team in place.

Offer flexibility

Nowadays, particularly after COVID employees realize the value of flexible working conditions. The next step in retaining top talent is to offer hybrid working and to ensure that you have the right infrastructure in place to deal with this model of working.

Communicate with your staff about their wants and needs around remote and hybrid working.

For instance, a common issue that companies new to hybrid working run into is managing occupancy in both the office and facilities associated with the office.

There are simple solutions that can allow your staff to book these facilities on the days they will be using them. This will assure them that you are taking their problems seriously, and avoid future problems associated with hybrid and remote workers.

Wayleadr’s robust system allows employees to reserve parking and desks for the days they decide to come to the office. This enables organizations to offer flexibility to their employees without having to deal with the headache of administration.

Listen to feedback

Communication is of the upmost importance when it comes to staff feeling valued. And a valued staff member is much less likely to search for a new job.

You can give out surveys and questionnaires, where employees can detail the improvements they want to see made.

It is not enough just to allow employees to have their say. You also have to help make the change they want to see where appropriate.

Move with the times

Employees are more socially aware than they used to be and want to work for companies that share the same ideals as they do. For instance, over 50 percent of employees won’t work for a company that lacks strong commitments to social or environmental causes.

If employees are motivated by environmental issues, you have to show a commitment to lowering your company’s carbon footprint in order to retain them.

An example of a company that managed this is Version 1, who reduced car commuting to the office by 50% by implementing last mile automation software, Wayleadr.

Wayleadr also helps businesses show commitment to sustainability in other ways.

For instance, if you install EV chargers at the office, Wayleadr can send push notifications and allows employees to communicate with each other and ensures there is little confusion over usage times.

Work on company culture

A happy workforce is a productive workforce. It’s also a workforce that is not looking for alternative employment.

Having organization get-togethers, rewarding performance, and making sure staff know that their voice is valued are just some of the ways to ensure your organization has a positive culture.

Conclusion

All-in-all, there are many ways to increase staff retention.

All methods of retaining employees fall into the category of ensuring that they feel and know that they are valued.

Focusing on one particular element of making an employee feel valued, such as improving their commuting experience, could be a good start for a business that wants to improve their employee retention.

Wayleadr offers organizations the opportunity to streamline and automate the commuting process, taking out the fuss and uncertainty associated with parking and the last mile of the daily commute.

If you want to hear more about how Wayleadr can help your employees feel valued, you can benefit from a commitment free demo.

Your employees will be glad you did!