Companies value employee retention highly because it takes time and resources to recruit and onboard new employees. However, if a company isn’t treating its employees well enough, they are prone to losing its best talent. This puts a lot of stress on the company and other employees who may have to tackle extra responsibilities to fill in the gap. Thus, it’s quintessential that you put a ton of effort into your retention strategies. Here are some tips from CEOs and managers on how to retain your best employees.
Go Above And Beyond With Your Onboarding Process
“A great way to retain employees is to create an exceptional onboarding experience that stands out from the rest. You want to show your employees that they are a part of the company from the very beginning of the process and continuing into the first year. Having a positive impact on an employee’s shift from a different company to yours can do so much for their work ethic and growth within their time there. Be as available as possible while offering beneficial resources to help new employees connect well with the team and reach their goals. Having weekly or even quick daily check-ins can help the employee feel accepted, and more willing to succeed knowing they have someone keeping up with their progress. This is a great opportunity for employees to give feedback on how everything is going and let management know where they are at with their new role.”
– Todd Jensen, Head of Marketing at Nursa
Emphasize work-life balance
“Oftentimes, employees begin searching for new roles due to poor work conditions and company policies, which is why employee retention always starts with the c-level executives and trickles down. Creating a company culture that emphasizes work-life balance is vital in keeping your best employees around. Employees appreciate it when an organization shows they care about their mental health and enforce policies that prove it. Offering in-house counseling, flexible time off, and performance-based incentives are three of several ways you can emphasize work-life balance. Offering these perks can help your company keep its best employees around because they feel valued in the workplace.”
-Tom Mumford. Co-founder of Undergrads LLC
Offer Amazing Benefits
“Employees who are treated well by their employer with competitive perks and benefits are more likely to stay at their jobs. Some benefits that employers offer employees include health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement plans, and wellness programs, though other companies will throw in even more benefits such as help with student loans, flexible PTO, and meal stipends. What benefits an employer offers can be the difference between whether or not a potential employee chooses to work there and what makes your current employees decide to continue working with you. Offering your employees the best benefits you can offer will ensure that you retain your top talent to your company.”
– Rich Rudzinski, Founder of Tragic Media, Oversight and Drivey
Set Employee Performance Reviews
“Meeting periodically with your employees is a great way to check in with them to make sure they’re meeting their goals and addressing any issues they’ve been having in their role. Discussing employees’ strengths, weaknesses, and areas they can grow in can show drastic improvements in the employee’s work behavior. Having a manager show they care to take the time to meet with employees can spark tons of motivation and a want to do well. By learning the employee’s personal goals, you can help them flourish in the company and work with them until they’re ready to advance. If managers can give positive feedback and support, the employee will feel like they have a purpose in their company and work their hardest to please those motivating them to succeed. Strive to be a company that offers growth and collaboration to make your employees satisfied.”
– Clayton Howard, Director of Analytics at Net Pay Advance
Invest in your employees and their careers
“If you want to retain your best employees, it’s crucial that you invest in them and their careers. Foster growth and create new learning opportunities for your top talent to develop in their role and beyond. Consider offering continuing education programs and training that allow your employees to develop themselves. Your employees are your company’s best assets and it’s important to show them that you are committed to their career growth and want to keep them around. Amid the Great Resignation, it’s crucial now, more than ever, to create a healthy, positive, and engaging environment for your employees to work in. Remember that at the end of the day, your employees are the ones that are making things happen day-to-day, and showing them that you’re invested in them will lead to a higher retention rate for your company.”
-Emily Moore, Communications Specialist at Colorescience
Gain Transparency by Holding 1-on-1s
“Keep the floor open for personal discussions and seek that your workplace has plenty of opportunities for each employee to reach out. Make sure to create a communicative workplace, where support may be there whenever they may need it. Create a plan of action together and decide what the best steps forward are. When you build more solid relationships, improve communication, and ask for help, the entire office will benefit. The more open you are about the organization’s goals and challenges, the easier it is for employees to understand their role and how they can individually contribute to the company’s overall success. It helps to keep the business accountable overall and increases credibility with consumers as well. This potentially leads to building stronger relationships and keeps trust high.”
-Pat Cassidy, CEO, and Co-founder of Net32
Start with Recruiting
“Before you can work on retaining your best employees, you have to focus on hiring candidates that are a good fit for your company to begin with. Having a thorough interview process will allow for the vetting of candidates to make sure they are not only a good fit for the job, but a good fit for the company culture. This will also ensure the constant building of a positive culture that current employees want to stick with. Being clear about the values of the company and the culture from the beginning will ensure candidates are sold on the company just as much as you are sold on them. When values are established it will be easier to recruit new employees that share the same values and will want to stick with you for the long run.”
– Jeffery Pitrak, Marketing and Account Manager at Transient Specialists
Conduct Stay Interviews
“Stay interviews are conducted between an employer and employee to better understand what the employee likes about their job and areas that can be improved. Stay interviews are a great strategy for employee retention because it not only builds trust but allows for an open conversation about things that would make employees feel more supported in their roles. This information will allow management to make valuable changes that will directly impact employee satisfaction. It can shed light on things employees deal with that management may not even be aware of. This will allow the company to make changes before it drives top talent to leave.”
– Brian Spencer, Director of Digital Marketing at Jim Adler & Associates
Promote Health
“One of the best ways to retain employees is to ensure that they are happy and healthy not only at work but outside of work. Employee burnout is a major issue across the board and can impact energy, emotions, and productivity in the workplace. To combat burnout, make sure you are reaching out to those who are struggling and meet their needs whether it is more flexible hours, making expectations clear, or taking on new projects. Promoting a healthy lifestyle can also help keep employees around. Organizing fitness challenges and hosting health seminars are also great ways to ensure employees are taking care of themselves physically to be able to have the best outlook when coming into work.”
– Daniel Ward, Editor at Invoice2go
Have a Mentorship Program
“It can help the overall morale of your company to have a well-rounded team with good communication. One strategy for this would be to pair a new employee with a more experienced employee. This can help make sure that the new hire has someone to ask general questions to and get a flow for daily activities. This can also be beneficial for the veteran employee as a little bit of a break from their everyday tasks. A meeting once a week, even if it only lasts five minutes, will help build a sense of community that plays a large role in an employee’s decision on where they want to work.”
– Gregg Dean, Co-Founder and CEO of Layla Sleep
Treat Your Employees Like Your Most Valuable Assets
“Treating your employees as if they’re your most valuable assets is the best way to retain your top talent. If you’re not treating your employees well, they will not work as hard as they can and ultimately end up leaving. Give them good health care, compensation, and a good working environment. This will lead to a higher retention rate, as you will be able to keep more workers for a longer time. All of this will lead to a more profitable business. If you can treat your employees well and make them feel appreciated, they will treat you nicely.
-Hilary Kozak, Vice President Marketing LivSmooth
Put Trust in Your Employees
“Employees want to work in a positive work environment that puts trust in their employees. A good way that companies can show that they respect their best employees is to give them more opportunities to grow on their own. Putting trust in your employees to work without supervision or micromanagement can be very beneficial for morale and motivation and the company as a whole. Giving positive reinforcement to great employees and trusting them to take charge of their own projects will help employees feel happy and satisfied at their company.”
– David Ring, Senior Marketing Manager at MCT
Value Your Exit Interviews
“One of the ways you can see how to best run your business to encourage employee retention is to conduct strong exit interviews. When an employee leaves, the information they can provide on their experience and perspective can be an invaluable tool for you to strengthen your approach and culture. Employees are most likely to have open and honest conversations during exit interviews so finding ways to gather insight through effective interview questions should be a priority. You can find out how you can adjust leadership styles, working responsibilities, and promote connections throughout the various teams in your organization by seeing why an employee is leaving and what concerns they have.”
– Sacha Ferrandi, Founder & Principal at Source Capital
Encourage Connection Through Team Building
“Employees often view their organization in a more positive light when they feel like they are connected to those they work with. Work connections and positive professional relationships can not only create a sense of community but can also promote synergy and collaboration. One way to encourage these connections is to plan regular team-building events. These events can be as extravagant as challenge courses or as simple as bar trivia nights, any activity that is both fun and collaborative. These team building exercises can also help foster connections between employees that may not often interact during the regular work day, like team members that are on different teams/departments.”
-Brandon Brown, CEO at GRIN
Emphasize your Company’s Values
“One way to boost employee retention is to make sure your employees align with your values. This way they will be more likely to stay because they are working for a company they are proud of and believe in. Take it upon yourself to continue upholding your company’s mission statement and values, not only externally but also internally in the way you conduct your business and treat your employees. Truly values-based companies will retain their employees for the long term. Upholding your values in employees’ day-to-day work will create a committed workforce.”
-Jacob Dayan, Co-founder of Community Tax
Foster Growth
“A key way of retaining your best employees is by fostering a culture for growth. Foster an environment that allows employees to gain new skills. Create a culture that allows employees to see their failures as learning opportunities, and find ways that they can grow from these experiences. As an organization, commit to having a growth mindset and recognize that each employee has different potential based on their skills and abilities. Employees that want to learn, accept and embrace criticism are all aspects of a growth mindset you should look for in your workers when fostering an environment for growth. You can do this by developing approaches to challenges as they arise.”
-Amy Alderstein, Senior Marketing Retention Manager at Canvas People
Create Learning Possibilities
“Creating a workplace in which employees can learn is a sure way to increase retention with your best workers. Typically, the best employees are those that appreciate a challenge and truly want to learn more about the industry. One way to boost employee knowledge is to host classes or training sessions aimed to improve technical skills. Also, your company may choose to implement a tuition reimbursement program for the employees who wish to pursue a graduate degree. Overall, your company must invest in possibilities for its employees to learn.”
– Lev Berlin, Founder of Recipal
Emphasize Their Importance
“A subtle, yet important, way to encourage your best employees to stay with the company is to recognize and appreciate their achievements. By giving shoutouts and praise when an employee reaches a goal, you will simultaneously help them achieve satisfaction and motivation with their job. For the employees that truly go above and beyond, you can reward them with gifts such as gift cards, free lunch, or even a bonus. Ultimately, you want to make sure that your employees feel appreciated and respected by your company.”
– Bill Lyons, CEO of Griffin Funding
Providing A Clear Path To Advancement
“The secret to a company that retains its employees early on is establishing a clear path to advancement. The employee leaving after six months often results in feeling that they will be stuck in their position forever. An employee leaving after a year often results from diminishing returns in their work. They may have been promoted to a new job but soon realize that this is not what they want. To attract and retain employees, businesses must offer ongoing education programs, mentors for the employees, and clear paths to advancement. You must provide ongoing education, and I’m not just talking about company-sponsored training and development programs. Things come up in business that we don’t anticipate, and your people need to know how to react. They need to understand how to adapt and solve problems. Communicate with your employees about what’s happening in their career path and let them know they’re headed in the right direction. It might feel like a heavier lift but will pay off in the end.”
-Matt Gehring, Head of Marketing at Dutch
Offer Flexible Working Conditions
“Flexibility in one’s work schedule is a major factor in job satisfaction, and this has only been made clearer than ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global shift towards remote work. If you want to retain your highest talent, keeping them happy by giving them a degree of control over their working hours and conditions is an excellent way to do so. Some positions simply cannot be done fully remote, so offering the opportunity to work from home on certain days, letting the employee decide what their hours at the office are, working a shorter day once a week, etc. might work better for your organization. Of course, there will be challenges with adjusting to this new work structure, but it’s still a fantastic way to keep your top employees happy and performing well.”
-Adrien Dissous, Global SVP of Marketing at Babo Botanicals
Employees come and go – it’s an inevitable part of any business. However, when you give your employees a reason to stay, you will find that both you and your employees will benefit from it. Not only will your company save time and money on recruiting and onboarding, but your employees will be satisfied in their position. Thus, it is always worth it to put some emphasis on retention strategies to keep your top talent at your company.
Matt Casadona
Matt Casadona has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Psychology. Matt is passionate about marketing and business strategy and enjoys San Diego life, traveling, and music.
