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Employee turnover is expensive and so retaining top talent should top your priority list. Here are the best employee retention strategies to use in 2021.

Are you tired of losing employees every year? Then you are not alone, as one of the biggest challenges for most companies, today is employee retention. So, how do you minimize employee turnover at a time when this unfortunate trend has massively impacted the modern workplace.

An analysis of the causes and impacts of high employee turnover

The simplest way to resolve a problem is by first understanding it. As an organization or HR manager, you know how important it is to find and recruit the right talent for every position. 

However, have you ever asked yourself why you have to go through this highly demanding and costly process almost every year?

When asked this question, a common answer by most hiring managers is – I just seem to keep losing my employees.

But, have you ever wondered about the whys behind this tragedy?

Employee behavior and why it is shifting

The post-pandemic workplace environment is bound to heavily change as employees have experienced a ‘shock’ that has forced them to re-think their choices. 

According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index, over 74% of employees are sheltering in jobs. This means that the only reason why most of them have not left their current workstations is that:

• They need their paychecks
• They are waiting for better job opportunities

That is scary, right? It should be as this shows that most of your employees only report to work as they need money and given half a chance to leave they won’t think twice. While these are some of the unexpected consequences of the pandemic, it has only magnified a problem that has been in place. 

Employee retention statistics over the past decades paints a bleak picture as it shows that:

• Over a third of new employees leave their jobs within the first two years.
• Most employees who stay for long in an organization only lack the energy to make a switch or have got too comfortable in their ‘safety net.’
• 47% of hiring managers state that employee retention is their biggest challenge. This is closely followed by recruiting the right talent for open positions.

As expected, it is companies that bear the burden of high employee turnover as studies show that:

• The average cost of losing a single employee is one-third of their annual salary.
• It takes a new employee at least eight (8) months to achieve full productivity
• Companies with low turnover rates are 4x more profitable than their counterparts who keep losing employees
• Over 70% of organizations have trouble replacing employees who suddenly leave
• Filling high-education executive positions is three to six times more expensive than retaining a current executive

The bottom-line from all this is that you need to adopt the best employee retention strategies as losing your staff is a costly affair that will leave you lagging behind your competitors.

Highly Effective Employee Retention Strategies For 2021

Most hiring managers assume that the only reason why most employees leave is because of poor pay. This is because, on average, employees who take another job tend to receive higher compensation. 

Nevertheless, this does not make high employee turnover a problem that strictly originates from how much is reflected on your employee’s paycheck. 

The truth is that while you have no option but to offer competitive compensation and benefits to your employees, this is not all it takes to build and maintain a solid workforce.

We look at the proven employee retention strategies for 2021 that you need to adapt as a company that wants to continue being successful:

• Start by hiring the right people

If you do not start right, you will never end up on the right. This is the most straightforward way to approach the problem with high employee turnover. It is one thing to hire an educated or skilled employee and a whole different gameplay to have onboard the right talent for the job. 

Most people cannot settle on a job, not because you do not offer enough, but they are not culturally fit for your company. This is why when thinking about permanent staffing, one of the best decisions you can ever make is having a highly skilled staffing team by your side.

• Train and mentor your employees

Hiring the right people for the job is only the first step to ensuring you have a firm foundation for building a high-value workforce. Your efforts need to be complemented through competitive training and development, which is a big missing link in most companies. 

Once you become invested in helping your employees improve their skills, they will hold the company in high regard and be less inclined to leave. Numbers do not lie, and LinkedIn’s 2020 Global Talent Trends report shows that companies with employee training and development programs experience 53% lesser employee turnover problems.

• Just like in any relationship, communication is critical

Communication flow in an organization is a highly impactful factor often overlooked when thinking about employee retention. The moment employees feel ‘left out,’ they will look for the quickest opportunity to leave. 

Having open communication policies whereby each employee feels their input is valuable will save you a lot of trouble as it fosters credibility.

• Provide growth opportunities

How many times do you overlook your employees when you have open positions or a challenging project to accomplish? Each time you bypass your employees for opportunities to grow professionally, they lose interest in staying with you for the long term.

• Create a favorable work environment

Finally, you need to revamp the workplace by offering your employees a great place to work in. No one thrives in a stressful work environment or in a company that does not consider their work-life balance. Strive to make your employees feel valuable all the time, and you will reap much more benefits than you ever imagined.

Get an employee retention program that works

A misplaced notion is that it has become too hard to make the average employee happy and keep them in an organization for longer. Each day businesses are losing highly valuable employees, leading to high direct and indirect costs of replacing them. 

In the end, high employee turnover causes so much damage that companies lose trillions annually because of this problem. Luckily for you, Mindsoft India is here to help you reverse this unfortunate trend by helping you put into practice the best employee retention strategies for 2021.