Employee Retention – Making the Case for Staying

The economy and business landscape continuously shift because of global events, economic trends and the political environment. Amid all this uncertainty, retaining current employees feels like an important mandate. While some employees prefer to stay with you amidst the uncertainty, others seek new opportunities to mitigate risk or maximize opportunities. Employee retention is vital for organization operations and continuity. It is also important to be objective in weighing both the value you provide to employees and the value they give to you.  

Assessing Organizational Benefits: Questions to Support Retention  

Let’s start by asking some questions to assess how truly competitive you are in retaining employees. Here are some questions to start with. 

How competitive are you in your market? Do you know where you fall with respect to pay, benefits, advancement opportunities, stability and potential when compared to your competition? What organizations or industries do you tend to lose people to? Being realistic about your positioning in the market can help you know how best to retain people. This may include emphasizing certain benefits or considering whether salary adjustments are needed. 

What is your unique value proposition? Why should people stay? We often focus on investing in keeping people. It is also useful to consider what should make them want to stay. Don’t be afraid to sell the organization! People want to work for a special organization, so remind them of what makes your team and workplace special and worth staying with. 

Who do you really need to keep? This can seem cold, but a natural part of succession planning is considering who your high performers are and who you might not to be sad to see go. Some voluntary turnover (people choosing to leave) may be fine if the fit isn’t right. At the same time, you want to invest time in your high performers and clearly define the criteria for recruiting future high performers when attrition occurs. 

What are you doing for employee engagement? Are you taking actions that encourage solid performers to stay? All engagement is a balance — you don’t want your employees to take you for granted, as that can lead to an entitlement culture, but you also don’t want to take them for granted. Be honest about where you need to make improvements and where you should highlight your engagement activities to remind employees why they should stay. 

Employee engagement and retention is a dance. Sometimes, the employee will have the upper hand in the market and sometimes your organization will be the best game in town. Engagement is not a static state — it must be continuously reevaluated, renewed and refreshed. However, simple questions like these can help you choose the most productive investments for the path ahead. 

Employee Retention: Make-or-Break Factors 

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) regularly surveys workers across the United States to determine the make-or-break factors driving whether they choose to stay or leave. Here are three. 

• Respectful treatment of employees. Employees are human beings – they want to feel respected and appreciated as individuals. How do you contribute to the upbuilding, encouragement, respect and integrity of every worker? One minute of interaction time may make a huge difference in either supporting or detracting from trust. Sometimes it’s as simple as a smile and a nod, and other times, it may be acknowledging performance with employee of the month or a bonus.  
• Showing respect may also involve offering different benefits to different people based on need. For example, Marie may need a few days off for family care; Miguel would rather have a cash bonus. Having fair, consistent and transparent award options can go a long way to showing respect in personally customized ways.  
• Compensation and salary/benefits. Salary is an important part of compensation, but so are benefits. This is good for employers, because benefits don’t always involve a lot of money. An organization can achieve economies of scale when purchasing different types of insurance for example – these may be of higher value for employees.  
• Trust between employees and senior management. The level of trust between employer and employee is critical for employees. Be honest with your employees and share what information you can. Conversations may be difficult, but it is critical to sit down and have them. 

SHRM identified other critical factors, including job security and opportunities for employees to use their skills and abilities at work. If you can provide a sense of stability to employees while also providing growth, that is a wonderful balance. 

Retaining Employees in Changing Times

Leaders face ever-changing conditions. The pendulum swings from in-person work to remote work and political and economic shifts lead to changes in supply chain relationships and cost structures. How can leaders provide a sense of continuity and stability that will retain employees amidst all this uncertainty and change? Here are six tips for moving ahead: 

1. Take care of yourself. All leaders should pause regularly and assess their own state and needs. If you are feeling stressed, uncertain and disengaged, it is going to be hard to engage your employees. Identify your own needs and consider how to meet those. 
2. Be honest about what you know and don’t know. Trust and respect are built through information sharing. If you don’t have great information right now about what happens next, say this. Share what you know and explicitly name what you don’t know with your teams. People do better with uncertainty when they know it’s uncertain for everyone and that you are not holding out on them. 
3. Be explicit about allowances. Difficult times call for some flexibility and creativity. Let your team know what they are empowered to do, act upon and figure out. Empowerment is key to engagement, trust, respect and retention. 
4. Ask for input. Listen, listen, listen — and — never let change go to waste. Now is the time to ask the team for opinions and input. The benefit of uncertainty is that there can be new space for more options to be seriously considered that seemed impossible before. 
5. Give feedback. Constructive and thoughtful developmental feedback keeps employees engaged. Many managers resist giving feedback — they assume people don’t need it; they get too busy; or they fear the reaction. Feedback, however, is essential to true engagement. We need to grow to engage. 
6. Say thank you. For a completed project, for a good idea, for a positive attitude, for just being part of the team! When we are stressed, it is easy to forget the power of simple appreciation. When it is heartfelt, say it — don’t save it! Everyone needs to feel valued and respected.   

In the rush to solve problems, it is easy forget the team that has stood by you through time. Engaging them, and taking care of yourself, are central actions in times of change. 

Quick Tips for Retaining Employees 

Need a quick review or summary? Here are quick key ideas for retaining employees:  

• Offer Competitive Compensation: Regularly review and update salaries to stay competitive within your sector. Fair pay demonstrates that you value employees and reduces turnover. Provide comprehensive benefits (healthcare, retirement, mental health resources) to show you care about their long-term well-being. 
• Provide Growth and Development Opportunities: Invest in employee growth through training, mentorship programs and clear career progression. Growth opportunities increase job satisfaction. 
• Build a Positive Work Culture: Create an inclusive, supportive environment where employees feel respected, trusted and part of the team. A positive culture improves morale and retention. 
• Recognize and Reward Contributions: Show appreciation through simple expressions of thanks, recognition programs, bonuses and public acknowledgments. Employees who feel valued stay longer. 
• Encourage Work-Life Balance: Offer flexible schedules, remote work options or wellness initiatives. Work-life balance reduces burnout and keeps employees engaged. 
• Conduct Regular Check-ins and Ask for Feedback: Leaders should maintain open lines of communication, proactively addressing employee concerns. 
• Empower Employees: Build respect by trusting employees with responsibility and autonomy. Empowered employees feel more ownership of their work and organizational loyalty. 
• Promote Leadership and Communications Training: Give leaders the skills needed to effectively support, motivate and manage employees. This reduces conflict and promotes a healthy work environment. 
• Create Meaningful and Purposeful Roles: Help employees see how their roles contribute to the organization’s mission, making work more meaningful and engaging – help employees want to stay to see the good work move forward. 

Training Resources on Employee Retention    

Pryor Learning offers many interpersonal and leadership development resources for managers working to support employee engagement and retention. Here are some examples:   

• Employee retention and work-life balance are closely linked – keeping employees for the long term means not burning them out. Time Management for the Overwhelmed is a one-day seminar that can help your employees work smarter.   
• Communicating with Tact and Professionalism helps people communicate in a way that helps you retain employees.  
• Online and in-person trainings on Management and Leadership can help managers develop the leaderships skills needed to show respect for employees and engage them in a way that will build loyalty.  
• Pryor has an entire learning category on Communication Skills Training, which can help people build the relationships and trust that makes people want to stay with your organization.  
• Retaining a diverse staff to meet customer needs can help both deepen and broaden your organizational resilience – here are some resources in this area: How to Manage Diversity in the Workplace, Understanding and Developing Cultural Diversity and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace.