BUSINESS

Consider These Innovative Ways to Boost Employee Retention

Employee satisfaction — and in turn, employee retention — is crucial to the success of any business. Happy team members will champion your company, boosting customer loyalty, brand reputation, and sales. In fact, one study found that happy employees were 20% more productive than their disgruntled counterparts.

Another benefit of maintaining and developing your current roster of staff is that it will save you money: consistently hiring and training new team members comes with substantial costs — and it often takes between six to nine months for a new team member to be entirely comfortable and thriving in their new role.

So how can you boost employee happiness, encouraging them to stick with your company for the long haul?

Encourage a Healthy Work-Life Balance

While it might be tempting to let employees start early, stay late, and put in hours over the weekend, over time, this will lead to a burnt-out — and possibly resentful — team member.

Instead, implement regular work hours with situational flexibility, allowing employees to adjust their hours should they need to pick up their kids or attend an appointment. Lastly, respect out-of-hours boundaries, and don’t email, call, or text while employees are enjoying time off.

Recognize and Reward Your Team

Employee happy

If your team has just achieved a big win — perhaps they finally locked down the client they’ve been chasing, or they successfully wrapped up a big-ticket project — reward them with an unexpected gift.

Some good gift ideas include vouchers, a celebratory get-together hosted during work hours, or a luxury gift basket. Just choose your gift basket provider wisely!

Toronto-based Nutcracker Sweet Gift Baskets has been offering corporate gift baskets for almost four decades and presents a selection of beautifully crafted high-end gourmet gift baskets, which are chock-full of extravagant offerings — you can even customize baskets to suit your needs. Gift baskets are an excellent way to congratulate team members, a top-achieving department, or a star employee.

Take the Time to Connect

Depending on the size of your business, you may not have the opportunity to connect one-on-one with employees as regularly as you would like. If doing so is feasible, take the time to chat with employees semi-annually — not for appraisals, but to check in on their job satisfaction, provide them with positive company updates, and see what could be done better.

If individual sit-downs aren’t viable, consider sending an upbeat, bi-monthly employee newsletter that celebrates wins, success stories, and even an employee-of-the-month feature. Make it known you’re always open to feedback and constructive criticism.

Offer Developmental Support

It’s fair to say that most people start to work for a company with a view to advancing within the ranks, improving their knowledge base — or both! By offering career development, external training, and team mentoring opportunities, you’re providing a multi-faceted work experience in which a team member can not only earn a wage as part of a successful team but can also broaden their skill base.

Not only does developmental support boost an employee’s happiness, but it also provides you with a better-equipped team member. Ways to implement this include lunch-and-learns, virtual training opportunities, job shadowing, and visits from external specialists.

Happy employees are valuable assets to any company. Happy colleagues are more likely to remain loyal, work harder, and provide an upbeat, positive experience for your clients. By recognizing, supporting, and encouraging your team members with compassion and integrity, you’ll be improving your profits and the overall happiness of your entire business.

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