Why Employee Retention is Important - honeybeeBase
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Why Employee Retention is Important

By December 10, 2019 November 21st, 2022 No Comments

It’s no secret that a tight labor market has added more pressure on business owners and HR professionals to retain key talent.

Employee retention has become a key metric within the organization’s walls as companies scramble to increase employee engagement and satisfaction.

But why do they go to all ends to retain key talent?

Cost of Turnover

Not only is employee turnover bad for company culture and morale, but it also costs your company a significant amount of money. 

Work Institute’s 2019 Employee Retention report estimates the average cost of turnover in the U.S. for a U.S. company is $15,000 per employee. 

The study reports that U.S. voluntary turnover in 2018 has cost U.S. employers $617 billion – and the turnover costs continue to trend up.

While this report is on average across United States employers, you’re likely wondering what your exact employee turnover cost is.

The Predictive Index indicates the employee turnover cost is calculated “…by taking your vacant position coverage cost plus the cost to fill the vacant position plus onboarding & orientation costs plus the productivity ramp up cost multiplied by the number of employees lost in that position in a given year multiplied by 12 to give you your annual rate.” 

In other words, there’s a lot of data metrics and details that go into estimating the annual employee turnover cost. 

Visit The Predictive Index to get an accurate measurement of your employee turnover cost.

Why Are Employees Leaving?

Work Institute identifies several reasons why employees are voluntarily leaving their jobs.

  • 22 out of 100 employees left for Career Development
  • 12 out of 100 left for Work-Life Balance
  • 11 out of 100 left because of Manager Behavior
  • 9 out of 100 left for Compensation and Benefits
  • 8 out of 100 left for Well-Being

…all of which can be preventable with the right culture and employee retention strategies in place. 

(Source: Work Institute)

How to Increase Employee Retention

To increase employee retention, it’s important to develop and act on strong employee retention strategies that make sense for your business.

Strategies vary from business to business, but here’s a few strategy tips to help you get started in crafting your own:

1. Be intentional about onboarding and training:

Set your new hires up for success. There are numerous studies that draw a correlation between onboarding and retention. The more intentional your onboarding and training process, the greater your chances of retaining your employees.

For more information, check out this article: Why the Onboarding Experience is Key for Retention.

2. Offer a career development plan / program:

Employees want to know what the future of their role looks like at your organization. Cast a vision for their future. Paint a picture for them that shows them opportunity to grow and develop in their career.

According to the American Management Association’s Fundamentals of Human Resources Management course, “…career development supports employees’ goals as they work to support the organization’s goals. This allows for a motivated workforce, which results in greater productivity.” 

(Source: American Management Association)

3. Keep your employees in the loop

Your employees want to know what’s happening within the organization. They seek autonomy, yet transparency. Easy channels of communication across the organization is key to keeping all employees on the same page / in the loop.

There’s a number of employee management tools (like honeybeeBase) that offer internal employee communication methods to help employees stay engaged and connected to your organization.

In Closing

Employee retention has become a leading issue facing businesses and HR professionals today.

By being proactive and intentional about employee retention, and implementing key strategies to retain talent – you’re one-step ahead at securing top talent in your organization.

Put Your Plan Into Action

Let’s cross one retention strategy off your to-do list.

honeybeeBase is your all-in-one online software to simplify employee management.

To support your retention efforts, honeybeeBase offers an internal communication platform that allows team members to share with one another, and helps keep all your employees in the loop.

Take it on a test drive!

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