A retention strategy refers to a strategy that employers use to reduce the number of employees leaving the organization. 

Developing a retention strategy will help and save the organization money by avoiding the habit of constantly hiring new members of staff; it is much cheaper to train and develop current employees. Some retention strategies involve: offering hybrid working for employees with children, childcare support and private health care.

How to create retention a strategy

There are various ways to create a retention strategy, however the ones listed below are believed to be the most effective:

• Build employee engagement: Employees that are disengaged, will damage the organization. Such employees will decrease morale, become a form of discouragement to other employees and also be a bad example to the workforce. 

According to findings, disengaged employees cost the US over $450 billion per year in lost productivity. This therefore shows how crucial and important it is for employers to ensure that employees are engaged; employee engagement activities examples include workplace parties (whether in person or virtually), special away days, recognition programs (or awards night) and team building activities. 

Introducing new opportunities for employees to give feedback also plays a role in building engagement; this will be valuable to them and to the organization. With such

opportunities, employees will be able to highlight problems, suggest to new projects and lend outside perspectives to decisions taken within the organization.

Offering employees a voice starts with employee engagement surveys, which has been delivered with the aid of a modern engagement platform. Such solutions will help to ask the right questions in order to discover how employees really feel about the manager, their role and team. As well as surveys, HR chatbots are also a good way to create an always-on channel for employee feedback; this will allow employees to express any problems or concerns they may have.

 Analysing and acting on the feedback gleaned from the employee surveys; one of the best employee engagement solutions is identifying employee’s pressing challenges and ensuring managers are guided through the process of dealing with them.

• Recruit the right employees: The employees usually want to be around people that inspire them, and not people that will bring them down, therefore it is important that as an employer, you find ways to attract the right and high performing talent, that align with the organization culture and will stay with the organization in the near future. Most employees expect to sell themselves, they also want to be sold to your organization. What interesting aspects of your culture can you emphasize on your careers page? Do you have amazing fringe benefits like monthly massages, onsite fitness centers, or generous parental leave policies? Did your company land in a “Best Places to Work” list? Think about how to best position your work environment for each candidate and position.
• Create an exceptional onboarding experience: Making employees feel part of the organization, starts with their onboarding experience and carries on through their first year with your organization. It takes up to two full  years for an employee to reach the highest level of productivity of an existing staff member; therefore making them feel capable and comfortable from the beginning can increase retention. Strategies like introducing new hires to their team members also plays a role in creating an exceptional onboarding experience.

As an employer, it is important that you help new employees by offering a memorable induction day, with as much information as possible and also create an enjoyable working environment which supports its employees.

• Provide avenues for professional development: It will be helpful to offer employees the opportunity to develop themselves professionally within the organization. Educating employees, setting up clear career paths, and implementing coaching programs, makes everyone more creative, engaged, and effective at work. 
• Offer winning incentives: Endeavour to offer employees incentives that will make them feel that their hard work is being recognised. Incentives could include a day trip with family, private healthcare and a flexible working environment.

With that being said,  as an employer it is important that you come up with a retention strategy in order to build a workforce reaches their full potential positively.