8 Surprising Ways To Retain Your Top Talent (Hint: It’s Not About the Money)

The Great Resignation is still going strong, with more and more people resigning from their jobs every day. The reason for this mass resignation has been the topic of extensive research by companies across the world who are looking into why employees would leave their positions so suddenly without any warning or explanation as to why.

So, is it about the money?

Surprisingly, no.

According to Work Institute’s 2022 retention report, less than one in ten employees cites pay as their reason for quitting their job. Instead, the most frequently cited, also recognized as the most important, reason for leaving a job is lack of career growth opportunities.

Employee turnover is bad news for your bottom line. For the average US employee, the cost of turnover is approximately $15,000. Add to that the hit to the team morale each time a valuable team member waves goodbye, and it’s safe to say that the cost is priceless.

Employee engagement has always been a thorn for businesses. Employers put a lot of time, effort, and resources into keeping their current employees happy and engaged to avoid turnover, especially among their best employees.

The good news is that, in most cases, employee turnover is avoidable. If you want to do better, you can.

In this post, we’ve gathered the best employee retention strategies, sharing diverse ways and initiatives with which you can increase job satisfaction among your top talents and retain employees.

1. Develop an Employee Onboarding Program

Want to get on the right foot with your employees? Then make sure you deploy a proper onboarding program that spans several weeks. Here’s what it should include:

• The “typical stuff”: Paperwork and hiring documents. HR policies, like dress code, leave policies, perks, etc. Employee directory and organizational chart – there are the must-haves of employee induction. If you can take care of the paperwork before their first day, even better.
• Next, move on to the practical information about workplace tools (job-specific and company-wide, like communication platforms) and relevant password info, and email setup.
• Introduce new hires to their team members and different departments. Give them an overview of every department’s roles and responsibilities, so they have a better understanding of the company structure and the way different departments collaborate.
• Deploy technical skills training. Teach new employees everything they need to know to perform their tasks and reduce time-to-productivity. At this point, stop and think about how much employees need to learn. It will take some time for them to assimilate the new information, and they’ll probably need to refer to the training material several times. Give them a helping hand by keeping all the training material on a Learning Management System, so they can access it whenever they need to. This way, you an also track each new employee’s progress during the onboarding phase.
• Assign them a buddy or a mentor they can get advice from on a less formal level.
• Make every new employee feels welcome and help them adjust to the company culture by organizing an online get-together or on-site lunch with their co-workers.
• Start discussing employee development soon. New hires need to know you are willing to craft a career path for them and that there will be job opportunities for them within the company. Talk to them about any on-the-job training or development program you have in place for each job function.

2. Respect Work-Life Balance

A healthy work-life balance increases productivity and reduces absenteeism, boosts team morale, and prevents employee turnover. On the other hand, a lack of work-life balance can cause burnout and increase employee attrition rates. So what can you do to support your employees?

• Lead by example. Don’t be the last one to leave the office (physical or virtual) or send emails at 1 am. Take your vacation days like every other employee.
• Don’t contact employees outside their work hours or outside your workplace communication platforms, like their social media or cell phone.
• Adjust your leave policy. Limit the number of Paid Time Off and vacation days employees can transfer to the next year. Allow unpaid time off for extraordinary circumstances.
• Offer parental leave. Offering paid parental leave to both male and female employees alleviates physical and financial stress for your employee and their spouse. Plus, it’s a huge step towards closing the gender discrimination gap in the workplace.

3. Offer Flexible Work Options

Not every company operates the same way. But if you can afford it, be one of these companies that focus on results and not on clocking hours. That means that you should allow employees to have a flexible schedule as long as teams can coordinate smoothly and meet their deadlines.

You should also take into account the fact that the pandemic changed forever the way we work. Many employees expect remote work to be part of the deal, and if you don’t give them this opportunity, they might be looking for a new job soon. In fact, Gartner research indicates that if an organization were to go back to a fully on-site arrangement, it would risk losing up to 39% of its workforce!

4. Provide Career Development Opportunities

We have already disclosed that a lack of career development opportunities is the top reason why employees leave their jobs. (And it was just one research – there are many more to back this up!)
To this end, you must ensure that each employee has a personalized career development plan according to their skills and goals.

Allow top performers to remain on top, and help weaker employees boost their skills. Here are some ideas to offer effective employee training and development:

• Mentoring. Partner junior employees with experienced employees. Mentoring is an excellent option for new employees or for those looking to upskill and move to another position.
• Coaching. A coach will help employees identify career goals, work on their weaknesses, and utilize their strengths to reach those goals. Mentoring and coaching share many common characteristics but work in different ways.
  💁 Learn more in our blog post on Coaching Vs Mentoring to choose the best option for your employees.
• Technical skills training courses. Technical skills training is the absolute minimum an employer should offer, as it refers to job-specific training that will enable employees to improve their performance and productivity. Ensure you include specific metrics for evaluating employees.
• Soft skills training. Soft skills are trickier to cultivate but just as important to ensure smooth collaboration among teams and to increase productivity and job performance. Among the top soft skills in the workplace are resilience, communication, persuasion, emotional intelligence, conflict management, and time management.

5. Build a Positive Company Culture

A toxic work environment can be detrimental to your employees’ well-being, first and foremost, and to retention rates. Employees will only stay so long in a workplace where they can’t find support or are even mistreated.

So how can you build a positive company culture and workplace?

• Don’t tolerate cliques, bullying, harassment, and discrimination of any kind (be it sexual, age, or otherwise). Of course, you can’t be aware all the time of what’s happening in your workplace. This is why you should encourage employees to come forward to the human resources department if they become victims or notice these behaviors. You can also set an anonymous feedback system in place.
• Organize events and team bonding activities to enable employees to get to know each other on a new level. Stronger teams are more productive and happier.
• Be transparent and have an “open door” policy, letting employees know that they can come to you with their concerns. If you’re running a big company, make it clear that the HR apartment is there to support and guide employees and not just to streamline the payroll process.
• Offering financial advice & support perks to ease the burden on employees can contribute to an even more positive company culture. For example, having ERC Refund tax experts working with them to help them with their taxes can make their lives a lot easier and can be considered a huge perk.
• Be empathetic and establish humane leave policies for emergencies.
• Keep in mind that people can be toxic unintentionally or without realizing it. So, offer employee training on topics like inclusion and diversity, emotional intelligence, and mental health to increase awareness.

6. Offer Non-Monetary Rewards

Rewards equal incentives. Offering non-monetary awards is a wonderful way to show employees some appreciation for their hard work.

Consider thinking outside the box when it comes to non-monetary rewards. Many of your employees may be too busy to fix lunch, for instance, and a convenient meal kit delivery service may be a thoughtful token of appreciation.

Some ideas for non-monetary awards are:

• Offer additional leave, like early Friday once in a while or a day off on their birthday
• Book them a spa day
• Get a discount for them in a local gym, restaurant, etc
• Organize a company retreat and team bonding activities and events
• Establish an “Employee of the month” award
• Hold virtual coffee sessions and game nights for your remote employees
• Arrange a local tour for employees that have relocated.

7. Say “Thank You”

This is an extension of our previous point, but it’s so important that it deserves a special mention. You might organize all the fun activities in the world, but employees might still feel unseen.

Saying thank you to each employee, perhaps with a one-to-one meeting, is the most simple, honest, and effective way to make employees feel that their work and contribution are recognized and appreciated.

Besides doing it in worth-of-mouth, you could send bouquets of luxury flowers or indoor plants to your best employees’ desks. This token of appreciation and care also adds an element of nature to the office, making your staff feel all the more valuable to the company.

8. Don’t Forget About Mental Health Benefits

Last but definitely not least, offering employees mental health benefits is becoming increasingly important. Career Builder’s latest survey showed that mental health and wellness benefits come third among the most-required work perks, with 24% of employees saying they would like them.

Here’s how you can support your employees’ mental health:

• Offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Probably the best thing you can do for your employees to support their mental wellness. EAP is a service that provides support and guidance for several issues that may trouble your employees, from work-related stress to family problems and grief.
• Offer stress management training. Through this program, employees will not only learn how to deal with stress (work-related and not) but also to identify early signs of heightened stress levels and take action.
• Include mental health in your insurance plan. Your healthcare insurance plan should include mental health professionals, so employees can find affordable support.
• Promote mental and physical fitness. Create a meditation room and offer fitness classes and meditation sessions. Meditation is an excellent way to reduce and control anxiety, while physical exercise will boost employee mood, reduce stress and improve their physical health at the same time.

Ready to hold on to those top talents?

Cliché or not, money doesn’t bring happiness. It’s in your best interest to keep that top of mind when you’re thinking about how you can increase job satisfaction. Instead, build your talent management strategy around perks and benefits that support your employees’ career development and well-being.

Help your top talent fly higher by offering them continuous education. Discover how LearnWorlds can help you build interactive and engaging corporate training programs that support live online sessions and webinars, a built-in community, and multiple types of content, among many other features.

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Further reading you might find interesting:

• The 19 Best Learning Management Systems
• SCORM 101: The Definitive Guide to Choose a SCORM Compliant LMS
• 18 Amazing Outline Templates to use in Course Design [3 Downloadables]
• The 19 Best Learning Management Systems
• 100+ Elearning Statistics, Facts and Trends
• The 10 Best eLearning Authoring Tools
• The 19 Best Employee Online Training Software Tools (A Comparison Guide)

Androniki Koumadoraki

Androniki is a Content Writer at LearnWorlds sharing Instructional Design and marketing tips. With solid experience in B2B writing and technical translation, she is passionate about learning and spreading knowledge. She is also an aspiring yogi, a book nerd, and a talented transponster.