10 Strategic Tips For Employee Retention

Lots of Model Survey are being used nowadays for the purpose of HR-benchmarking such as the classic Cross-Sectional Surveys, Longitudinal Surveys and other copyrighted Management Model Survey such as Engagement Model Survey, David Ulrich Models etc… but because of the complexity of human behavior a scenario of one survey conducted in one specific place is not applicable in another place. As human behavior in one organization is directly affected by the quality and attitude of leaders’ leading the organization and culture & trend that being breed in an organization location. Conducting a survey is one way and probably the most effective way for HR practitioner to decide on what to do next, base on the results of the surveys in relation on the current trend that affecting Human Resource issues and problem and one of this is Employees retention problem. Before employees retention is never been that important especially here in the Philippines, as it known a lot of talented professional can easily be found, but because of the brain drain that currently affecting our country it change the trend..

The blunder in the cost of Employees turnover and its serious impact in an organization’s bottom line are increasing, because employee recognition and rewards are limited in most organizations. Unfortunately many HR Practitioners’ don’t understand the importance of recognizing and rewarding a team member’s hard work. Many might even ask why they should recognize their employees when they are “just doing their job.” The truth is that recognizing employees for the job well done is one of the least expensive and easiest ways to improve the morale and employee retention in one organization plus a return on investment for a manager’s time with a very minimal expense in the part of the company. Because of this to help HR practitioners’ in this problem I’d listed here 10 tips that I research and learned and ranked it accordingly during my Masters studies at Mondriaan Aura College-Subic:

1. Balance work and personal life
Balance work and personal life – HR professionals is battling to the challenges of a transforming workforce reality the need to be aware of certain trends which impacts efforts to attract and retain talented employees. Work-life balance application to a person’s effective work-life and personal life wasn’t as important in the past as it is today because, in the past, people often are able to attend easily to every major role in their life. Family is very important to all of us, when work begins to put a significant strain on one’s family no amount of money will keep an employee around. So a small gestures of allowing an employee to take an extended leave once a month to watch with his daughter’s or son’s schools activity will likely be repaid with loyalty and extended employment with an organization.

2. Competitive compensation package
Higher salaries” Money still the number one consideration, in which employees’ seek change. It is normal for us to feel that we’ve been paid appropriately and fairly for the work we do. So be sure to research what other companies and organizations are offering in terms of salary and benefits. It is also important to research what is the standards compensation package and benefits for the particular position, particularly health and dental insurance, retirement, and paid vacation days and time off. You must make sure that the compensation package your company has is competitive enough, so that team members will not go out and look for employers who are willing to offer more competitive compensation packages.

3. Treat each employee with respect and as an individual
Treat each employee with respect and as an individual, recognize the team member’s contribution in front of members of management. This can reduce the tendency for employees to feel that their supervisors take all the credits. Know how to recognize your staff, not all employees want to be singled out at a gathering of hundreds of peers. The approach to recognizing team members can vary greatly by generational group. You might humiliate unintentionally a baby boomer by having them stand up in front of their colleagues while discussing their recent achievements conversely a Young Gen will appreciate the opportunity. A simple “thank you” or “nice job” or a pat in a back given in regular basis or frequency can significantly boost employee morale. Often times a team member will greatly appreciate the time you spent to find him at his desk and deliver the message personally.

4. Positive Work environment
While compensation, benefits are important, the primary reasons workers leave a company are unorganized work environment, toxic workplaces, bad bosses and difficult co-workers. Every employees want is a clean, organized work environment in which they have the necessary equipment to perform well. When people and resources are not organized, physical barriers are stand in the way of being able to work efficiently, obviously it causes stress. Try to arrange things so that people have easy access to the people and resources they need. This normally works best by organizing workspaces around the people operating the process, or the types of work that they do. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to do their jobs. Some employee need a personal space but none is available, try blocking off areas with furniture, screens or blinds.

If noise is an issue, plants can help to soften it. Make sure that you explain to your workers why you are doing this emphasize the benefits of making the change. The quality of supervision and mentorship, by a “bad bosses” has been said so often that, people leaves people, not their jobs. Supervisors play the largest role in a team member’s development and organization successes. All employees want to have Boss who’s respectful, courteous, and friendly. Workers are more likely to remain with a company if they have a good and positive work environment.

5. Eradicate Favoritism
The better person can see a question from all sides without bias-Cunfucius” The so-called “inner circle club or good ole boys” can create unpleasant organization culture and can promote bitterness among team members, which can results devastating effect on some valued team members. The results of employee favoritism are destructive in natures because the following idea are unavoidable (Why should I perform if It will get me nowhere? Why do this if others will not? Why put in the effort if I will not be recognized? Why trust the boss if they are not fair?)

As a result, employees’ morale, productivity, and relationship with the manager will diminished thus creating a disengaged employees which eventually create disengage customers. So equally treat all employees and avoid favoritism at all costs. Individuals want a perception that each employee is treated equivalently. Device or create a policy, a behavioral guidelines, or methods for requesting time off, and on any other work related decisions you can think about.

6. Communication and availability
The Human Resource department needs to be very responsive to employee questions and concerns. In many companies, the HR department is perceived as the policy making arm of management. In fact, in forward thinking HR departments, responsiveness to employee needs is one of the cornerstones. You can easily do this by actively listening to your Employee’s. Give them honest feedback, both positive and negative. Clearly communicate expectations, goals, and new rules to be followed.

Let them know what is expected of them. Get them involved and keep them informed – give them any information that tells them how their work fits into the overall company effort. Let’s face it. Employees really want is to have a face-to-face communication time with both their supervisors and managers. This communication helps them feel recognized and important. For the managers; You may have a lot of things to do and attend to and surely your time maybe full. But, a manager’s main job is to support your peers towards the success of organization. With this act managers’ leads and magnifies organization success.

7. Employee Empowerment
Empowered personnel have a sense of responsibility and a sense of ownership, and their ideas are often recognized. So a workplaces that promote employee empowerment, power over what and how things are done, and the knowledge that they are important to the organization have enormous productivity results and less complaints. When employees think that they need their organization as much as the organization needs them, that need became best appreciated more than a paycheck and all benefit package that made them to stayed and remained at the company longer.

8. Placing the Right Talent for the Right Job
Placing the Right Talent in the Right Job dramatically increases Employees retention and enhances the organization success by reducing costs in many business aspects. Discover the way in which you can improve your employees, place them in environment that they can be truly useful. A new car behind glass is just a mass of metal plastic and glass, but a car being driven is truly what a car should be. The same goes for people once developed, one should use what they have learnt so that they can make the world around them a better place for themselves and others. And with this you shall not forget to provide them training, show them advancement opportunities and help them turn a job into a career.

9. Celebrate successes, big and little and make the workplace fun.
Sharing small successes with your Employees’ is a great way of making the workplace fun, not only by champagne, a two or more kilo of Ice Cream or a small cake with a 1.5 Liter of Soda is good enough, but you have to do what works best for you, If your immune system has taken a hit then maybe you can celebrate successes with a cup of coffee or hot tea with a loaf bread, it warms you up and still sets the tone of the celebration or maybe celebrating positive momentum for some time by just whistling a happy tune or tapping out as affirmation of an enhanced gratitude.

10. Workplace flexibility
Be flexible whether that means specifically giving your workers the option to work flexible hours, do some customize schedule rotations or a self-scheduling through coordinating with some other staffs in-charge are good ways to promote positive employee morale or you could allow your staff to leave work early for a personal matter when appropriate. Workplace flexibility is hard to manage, because you need to meet operational demands. But it has to manage so the flexibility policy should be well defined and be implemented accordingly so its’ good intent will not be lost.

The bottom line is that employee recognition works. And with these tips employee’s satisfaction increases and surely enough the satisfied employees produce more and remain in their jobs longer. Visit http://www.aheadguide.com for more articles regarding Human Resource Management