staff retention

staff retentionThe days of graduates sticking with the first employer they find out of school until retirement are sadly behind us. It’s not uncommon for recent graduates to hop between jobs. Trying different specialities and even different industries until they settle on something enjoyable isn’t uncommon. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the frequent staff turnover can bring some fresh energy to your team with greater regularity. However, the cost in real terms for staff retention isn’t something that can be ignored. The process of hiring, training and developing new staff is often a key expense for businesses. And if you invest in training something, you’ll want them to stick around for long enough for your business to see a return on that investment.

There are two parts to staff retention. Firstly, you want to attract and hire the right staff who are interested in working for you and developing their career. And secondly, you need to find ways to retain the staff you already have so you can ensure you aren’t running a continuous recruitment drive. If you’re interested in how you can attract and retain millennial workers, why not consider the following workplace practices…

Advertise the benefits

Workers are looking for more than just a good salary, they are often more interested in all the added perks you can offer. This might include simple things like free snacks and refreshments, a company-wide happy hour on Friday, or even the latest gadgets. While many companies might offer these, if you don’t advertise them, you won’t be attracting the candidates you want. On-going benefits like gym membership will also help to encourage your existing employees to stick around and keep them healthy while they are working for you.

Offer flexible working to increase staff retention

While this might be more often associated with working parents, flexible working practices can help millennials to feel that they are more in control of their working day and encourage them to build a career with you. While flexible working might be most useful for working parents hoping to make the school run or work from home to cut down on childcare costs, by offering this perk before it becomes a necessity, you will let your employees know that you are interested in them growing their career with you.

Make your office pet-friendly

Studies have proven that pet-friendly offices promote a healthy working environment for everyone, not just younger workers. Pets encourage people in different departments to get to know each other and to work together better. Pets in the workplace are known to reduce stress and encourage collaboration, so it’s worth investigating if this is something that would be popular with your workforce.

Don’t forget the basics

Young companies often get carried with trying to work out the big perks that they forget to iron out the more basic things that people will expect from their employer. Despite millennials being branded as clueless about money, more and more are taking things like pensions more seriously. Other things like comprehensive sick pay, bonus structures, and generous maternity and paternity structures can help to attract and retain millennials who are playing the long game. There are some things that you have to offer in line with employment law. But there are many other added perks which will help to make your company more attractive to the best workers.

Offer training

There’s an old saying in the HR world: You can either invest in training your employees and risk them leaving or not invest in your employees and risk them staying. When it comes to job satisfaction, more people will only stay happy in their job if they are always learning new things and developing. By training your employees in the areas that interest and challenge them, you will be encouraging them to think about their long-term career prospects with your company. When people move on to pastures new, they often cite looking for new challenges as the main reason, so there’s an argument that you can skip this step by offering a transparent development plan.