Undoubtedly, the world is facing some amount of economic uncertainty this year. But still, the Singaporean market remains very competitive.
At the start of 2023, more than 30,000 Singaporeans resigned their daily jobs, leaving over 100,000 jobs opening. With an unemployment rate of only 3.2%, some companies still have a hard time retaining workers and attracting new ones.
In this market reality, business organizations can’t afford to lose their valuable assets – employees. According to experts at BoardRoom, investing resources and time in the following strategies for retaining employees may help to ensure you finish 2023 and enter 2024 strong:
What Employee Retention Is
It refers to business organizations’ effort to hold to their most prized asset – talent. A high or low employee retention rate can directly affect the overall success of a company.
It is also important to manage and know your organization’s employee turnover rate to stay in business for long. To avoid and manage a high turnover rate, retaining employees becomes crucial.
Why Employee Retention is Important
Retaining employees steadily allows supervisors and managers to invest in their teams and help them become more productive. Employees working with a company for long help the business grow, seek professional development and accept more work responsibilities.
Increased productivity is another reason for employee retention. Rather than spending their time searching for and training new workers, supervisors and managers can concentrate on helping current workers be more productive. A stable team knows what should be done and how to achieve it. Apart from increased productivity and a stronger workforce, other reasons are:
- Decreased costs
- Improved morale
Strategies for Retaining Employees
Business organizations value worker retention as it costs money and time to replace more productive workers. Having a talented team leave your company may also cause a strain on the current workers, who are forced to take on more work until those vacancies are filled. Considering this, retaining your talent needs to be your top priority. Here are strategies to help you keep your best employees:
1. Have a Share Option Scheme
Well, share option schemes for employees are a kind of employee benefit plan, giving workers ownership of a company’s stock. It serves as a great tool to attract and retain top talent.
In addition, it provides workers with a sense of stability and security, which can be appealing to workers looking for a long-term job opportunity.
2. Provide an Excellent and Engaging Onboarding Process
Training is usually confused with onboarding. But the truth is that onboarding is more than training. Onboarding teaches new workers about expectations, company goals, and corporate values. Successful onboarding processes need to involve peers, managers, and team leaders.
Google is well-known for its amazing onboarding process. Here are five major elements of the onboarding process that Google uses:
- Developing open-door policies
- Setting up a regular check-in
- Helping workers build a social network in the workspace
- Matching new workers with peers
- Defining roles clearly from day one
3. Consider Mentorship Programs
Pairing new employees with a mentor is one of the greatest components to add to an extended onboarding process, more so in the remote workspace.
Mentors will welcome new workers in the company and provide guidance. New workers, in turn, will learn the ropes from existing and experienced workers.
However, don’t limit opportunities for new employees alone. Your existing team can equally benefit a lot from mentee-mentor programs.
4. Offer Competitive Hourly Wages or Base Salaries
Hard work and a wage worthy of sacrifice must be your top priority when making workers feel their contributions are valued in the company. Proper compensation is more vital than other items on the list.
Not only should workers get paid fairly for their work and time, but they should as well afford the cost of living where they currently live. Offering more than that helps in employee retention.
5. Keep Workers Fit, Physically and Mentally
No one wants to be overwhelmed and overworked. Many workers are looking to work in a workspace that supports family/personal health and long-term stress management.
This is why the current work environment needs to proactively prevent burnout and, at the same time, reinforce mental health. The best way to do that is to promote wellness as well as a perfect work-life balance.
If you also could, consider trying a no-meeting day for your team who work from home to ensure the video call tiredness doesn’t bog them down. When key leaders motivate workers to concentrate on what inspires them professionally and personally, they will surely notice an improved and refreshed focus and attitude.
6. Introduce Flexible Hours
Some workers tend to be motivated when their working hours are flexible. Introducing flexible working hours can help your workers get projects done and keep them relaxed.
Reduced workdays may as well make them report to work the following day with fresh minds. Work can be hectic and stressful sometimes. This is why it would be best to let your workers take time to recuperate.
This gives them satisfaction, thus improving the rate of retaining employees. In order to make your employees work in your company for long, you will also need to have flexible working hours with some days off on sick days.
7. Encourage Creativity
Ongoing employee creativity is important for the success of an organization. Innovation may come from anywhere within your company, and empowering workers to give suggestions wherever possible is crucial. With this, your team will feel that their voices are heard and, at the same, foster innovation in the long run.
Several strategies can help you encourage employee creativity in the workplace. One way is to create opportunities. Create a lot of opportunities for workers, like assignments or content, to get the creative juice flowing. Other strategies may include the following:
- Hiring a diverse staff
- Offering rewards
In a Nutshell
One of the most effective strategies to retain workers is to introduce share option schemes for employees. It allows workers to have ownership of the company’s stocks and makes them work towards the betterment of the company. Other effective ways include encouraging creativity, introducing flexible hours, and offering mentorship programs, to name a few.
