5 ideas to get your employees to stick around longer

In today’s challenging job market, employees are departing their roles left, right and centre. As the cost of living increases and people find themselves financially worse off, employers will need to step up and support their team. 

Employees are beginning to face financial challenges in everyday life, and people will need to find higher-paying jobs to stay afloat. It doesn’t necessarily mean they want to, but with a recession on the horizon, some employees are left with very little choice. 

In this blog post, we’re looking at 5 ideas for getting your employees to stick around longer.

Spoiler alert: we’ve not included a pay rise. Why? Because although pay rises are one of the biggest motivators to stick around in a job, it isn’t the be-all and end-all of retention. 

‍

‍

Regularly share words of recognition and praise

Starting with recognition and praise. Believe it or not, this technique costs absolutely nothing and boosts the confidence, productivity and job satisfaction of your employees. In fact, according to VantageCircle, 44% of employees change jobs due to a lack of recognition. 

Recognising the efforts your team make can help keep them around for longer. While pay rises sound appealing to every employee, recognition can work wonders for your employees. 

Top tip: Put it into your calendar to recognise a member of your team this week. Not only will it help boost job satisfaction, but you will find out about all the great work they are carrying out. 

Here at Heka, each Friday, we choose a member of the team that we believe has done something amazing or been helpful. The winner of the week gets to start or finish a little earlier the following week. This helps us to praise one another while rewarding the winner for their hard work.

‍

Personalise your employee perks and incentives

We’re all for personalised employee benefits here at Heka, it’s what makes our employee wellbeing platform so great! Across 50+ categories, employees choose from thousands of experiences, products and services. 

As for your workplace, it’s important to personalise any perks, incentives or offering you make to employees. For instance, if a specific employee struggles to get to the gym at a certain time in the evening, consider a flexible working schedule to support them. If your employee is trying to learn a particular skill like video-editing, reimbursing the costs of their course can also help tremendously. 

As you can see, personalising your perks and incentives are a great way to show each employee that you care about their health, wellbeing and happiness. It’s when perks and incentives do not fit your team’s interests or lifestyle that they go underutilised and engagement drops. And when engagement drops, it’s a slippery slope to losing top talent.

Personalisation of your perks and incentives means listening and reacting to the needs of your employees. Only then will you ensure employees stick around much longer.

‍

‍

Focus on improving workplace relationships

Workplace relationships are crucial to a successful business. When people come together to build something great, they are unstoppable. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case in some businesses. 

Some workforces face a lack of encouragement for better communication and collaboration among teams, and with many employees now working remote, it becomes much more difficult. 

So, how can leaders focus on improving workplace relationships, and why should they even try? In one survey, when respondents were asked about the impact of having a “work best friend”, nearly three in five said it made work more enjoyable. This demonstrates the power of good relationships in the workplace. 

21% of the same group said “work best friends” have supported them through both personal and professional issues. The question is, how can employers improve workplace relationships?

Employers should host social events outside the workplace, where teams get together. From bowling to canoeing or indoor climbing, the opportunities for team-building exercises are immense.

Here at Heka, the entire team got together earlier in 2022 to do GoApe, climbing the treetops and supporting one another in getting across the climbing course. 

Whatever you choose, make sure that fits the interests of your team. Some other ideas include holding lunch and learns, where employees can come together to learn about a particular employee and their skillsets.

‍

‍

Coaching and training opportunities

Everybody loves making progress towards certain goals. In the workplace coaching and training opportunities provide just that! And, although a pay rise is great for employees, learning and development opportunities can provide benefits for years to come. 

Take a look at your current learning and development strategy. Are you helping employees improve their skillsets? If you aren’t, this could be a huge opportunity. Most employees are looking for either more challenging careers or pay rises. If you can support your team by becoming more skilled, you’re on your way to achieving team members that stick around longer!

Did you know, through Heka, our users have access to Udemy courses, language learning and much more! There are plenty of experiences and products to be had on Heka to support upskilling and development.

Consider coaching and training your management team on things like better leadership styles. That way, not only are they much more able to support employees, but they can improve on their skills too. Better leaders will be able to regularly recognise and praise employees, further boosting retention in the long term. 

‍

‍

Get to know your team and their concerns

How can you better prepare for departing employees, if you’re unsure as to what concerns they have and why they aren’t happy? That’s why our last idea is to get to know your employees on a personal level; to have discussions, and regular conversations about their wellbeing and job satisfaction.

Far too often, employers focus entirely on an employee's output and performance – without consideration of their concerns, worries and mental health. By tackling any personal issues they’re having, you’re able to minimise the chances of them leaving. 

Whether it’s small conversations here and there or surveys, seek out the answers that can help you make positive changes and decisions. It’s important you’re open with them about your intentions. Tell your employees that you want them to stick around for as long as possible, and by holding regular meetings, you can find out how to improve the employee experience for them.

In a lot of workplaces, employees feel like nothing more than a number. It’s these particular workplaces that develop toxic traits, constantly high turnover and a disregard for employee wellbeing. 

In addition to the four ideas above, ensure you’re digging into the problems facing your team. It is one of the surefire ways to keep employees around for longer!

One final note

Getting your team members to stick around longer can be a challenge – especially in today’s workplace. Although, that doesn’t make it impossible. Leaders who take their initiatives and perks seriously, and who value each employee individually, will retain their best talent. Those that ignore the rapid pace at which people are moving jobs, will see employees jump ship time and time again.

2022 has proven to be a challenging time, and we expect it to continue being so for both employees and employers later into the year. Now is the perfect time to put into practice a strategy to improve retention and minimise high turnover.