Dear Rayna,

It’s great that your company is looking at ways to retain its staff.

Retaining talent is one of the biggest challenges most companies will face over the next 18 months. It will be important for your organization to retain these talented people who feel underrepresented and unfulfilled at work.

Compensation is the most common way companies attempt to keep hold of their talent, but compensating employees with more money, training, promotion, and bonuses isn’t always enough. So what can you do to make your employees feel appreciated and engaged?

The secret to retaining top talent actually starts in your recruitment process.

Many companies are struggling right now to refine their hiring process. This creates long waits, lots of hoops to jump through and candidates who become disengaged. Check out this blog on refining your interview process to make it a better experience for candidates.

In addition to making the process smooth, you need to make sure you are communicating two key things: company culture and expectations of the role. 

• Ask questions that will require the candidate to speak about where they see their career heading. What is their dream job? What skills do they have that will make them a good fit for this and what areas they still need to work on? Does this role line up as a stepping stone to that ultimate goal job?
• Before you communicate the mission, vision and values of your company, ask the candidate what values they think a company should have. You’ll learn a lot about the candidate and if they’ll be a good fit for the company. 
• Very clearly communicate the expectations of the role the candidate is interviewing for. Surprises at work are fun – when they involve cake and balloons. They are not fun when they involve having to do a task that was not on the job description or mentioned during interviews. You do not want to have a new hire who feels blindsided by the company. Really, you don’t want any employee to feel that. Make sure you communicate that if anything comes up that they don’t feel qualified to handle, they will be supported in learning and trying – even if mistakes are made along the way.

Next to a bad interview process, a clunky or confusing onboarding process can also cause new hires to jump ship. A successful onboarding process should have a new hire feeling confident and excited, not overwhelmed and confused. Make sure these three things are being accomplished:

• Are you introducing the new hire to people in the company outside HR and their department? Remember back in middle school, when a new kid would be assigned a buddy to show them around and make their transition easier? Do that same thing with someone who is not in HR or their department. Expand the circle. 
• Encourage managers to set goals for new hires (30 day, 60 day, 90 day to start). These should be reviewed with the new hire to make sure that they are adapting to the new role and performing. This is a benefit for the new hire, too, because they’ll have the opportunity to talk honestly with their manager about any areas they are struggling with. This IS NOT a shaming process. This is about growth.
• HR should check in with the new hire regularly to see if there are any questions. See if they have all of the tools, log-ins, equipment, and support that they need. 

Employee engagement is also crucial in retaining key talent. Finding out how your employees feel about their work will give you actionable insights into what they need from the company, the job, and leadership.

By investing in employee engagement, you’ll be getting a deeper understanding of what drives your employees and how you can sustain their motivation.

An engaged workforce is likely to be a more productive, innovative, and loyal one. They are also less likely to leave the organization for a better job in 12 months when compared to those who are disengaged.

Employee engagement programs play an important role in your company’s retention strategy. If you want to grow and retain top talent, find out how employee engagement could benefit your organization.

Here are some ways to get started on an employee engagement program:

• Assess the state of workplace culture using a company’s formal system for measuring employee engagement.
• Promote a two-way dialogue between employees and managers through employee engagement surveys, open discussions, and effective listening.
• Provide development opportunities for employees at all levels, including those who are already engaged or highly capable.  By giving individuals new challenges and responsibilities, you’ll help keep their careers moving forward.
• Model the behaviors of engaged leaders by encouraging them to engage themselves in work.

Focusing on hiring, onboarding, engagement can help retain employees. It’s not just about paying employees more money.  It’s about making them feel happy and appreciated for their contributions to the company.

The pandemic has changed a lot of things in our workplaces, including what employees are looking for. On top of a competitive salary, many employees are looking for more opportunities and growth. They want to feel valued.

They also want opportunities where they can see how their work has contributed to the company’s success.  Through a balanced workplace where you’re able to offer development opportunities along with salaries that are at least in line with industry standards, your organization will retain top talent.

Hold on to your employees, and they’ll hold onto you.

Sincerely,
Jenny