At The Planet Group, we love imparting useful knowledge and wisdom that we’ve picked up during our 20 years in business. As a result, we’ve discovered there is one not-so-secret and very effective way to increase employee engagement and retention.
Here’s the truth: it all starts with your people.
If your goals are to increase employee engagement and retention rates, one of the most effective ways to accomplish both is to adopt an employee-centered focus. This means focusing on employee growth, well-being, and inclusion. If your business improves on these three factors, you’ll find more often than not employee retention practically takes care of itself.
At The Planet Group, we show our clients best practices and industry trends that help them immediately boost the relationship between the organization and their employees. We combine data analytics with business know-how to actively increase employee engagement and retention rates.
Let’s explore the benefits that come with increasing your employee engagement rates and exactly how you can accomplish it.
WHY SHOULD YOU BE AN EMPLOYEE-CENTERED ORGANIZATION?
So what exactly are the benefits of increasing employee engagement? While there are many benefits as shown in the graph above, some of the top perks include gaining a performance boost, reducing turnover, and cultivating stronger employee loyalties.
GAIN A PERFORMANCE BOOST
According to a Gallup study, when management is not aware of their employee’s work, employees are 15 times more likely to be disengaged, which results in lower performance. The same Gallup study found that engagement-focused businesses experience 22% higher profitability and 21% more productivity than those who don’t. By adopting an employee-centered approach to your company’s management and work environment, you can enjoy a boost in your productivity.
REDUCE TURNOVER
After 20 years of serving the industry, we can’t stress how important it is to reduce turnover. Unless you’re a company that hires seasonally, the typical cost of turnover is 21% of an employee’s annual salary.
High voluntary turnover means that a business loses out on top talent. It also leads to a staff shortage during the replacement process, which can have costly repercussions. The solution to this could be as simple as adopting an employee-centered focus with open communication of business goals, values, and mission. According to a study by Deloitte, companies with high employee engagement levels decreased their turnover rate by 31%.
STRONGER LOYALTY
Why do people look for new jobs? Some of the most common reasons are insufficient salaries, poor benefits, inadequate career progression, lack of recognition, and negative work culture. There also can be problems if there is a high amount of pressure on worker productivity at the expense of employee welfare. Some workers stay at their companies despite lackluster work environments for many factors. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 61% of employees report they are burned out and 31% are under extreme stress at work. This results in a disengaged and underperforming workforce.
By being employee-centered, you can increase employee morale and, in turn, increase their ties with the company. Legendary psychologist Viktor Frankl noted, “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” Your mission, your purpose, the ‘why’ behind what you do, can strengthen your company with a long-lasting impact. “Mission-driven” companies have 40% higher levels of retention. Successful employers take the time to engage employees, show appreciation, and make them feel they are a part of something that is bigger than themselves. In doing so, they can develop loyalty that is irreplaceable.
6 STRATEGIES TO BOOST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION
1. CREATE A SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT
It’s crucial to create a reciprocal environment that everyone benefits from. Learn from your employees about how you can improve as an employer. Gather employee suggestions for an overall strategy on a departmental and business-wide level. You might be surprised by the insight and ideas that your people have. According to a study on workplace empathy, 92% of businesses feel their workplace is empathetic, but only 50% of employees agree. This is crucial for companies to note since 96% of employees believe that showing empathy is highly important when it comes to employee retention and are 4.6 times more likely to perform their best work when they feel their voice is heard. Ultimately, people like to feel valued and feel like their ideas and opinions matter.
At The Planet Group, our consultants mentor clients on how to successfully build empathy, compassion, genuine interest, and inclusion. We focus on how to create effective plans for anti-harassment, diversity, safety, and other factors based on the needs of your business.
2. IMPLEMENT STRATEGIC ONBOARDING
Onboarding can be a costly and lengthy process. The longer it takes, the higher the overhead. Not to mention, your company doesn’t want to cut corners at the cost of quality hires. A Gallup study found that only 12% of employees strongly agree that their company does a great job onboarding new employees. It’s important to consider the following when developing an effective onboarding:
- Continue the momentum from the attraction and recruitment phase into the employment phase to avoid disappointment and low engagement levels.
- Ensure new employees understand what sets your company apart, your goals, values, and mission during onboarding.
- Encourage questions and open communication for a more personalized onboarding experience for new hires.
- Establish clear goals and expectations during onboarding.
- Make sure to engage often with new employees to establish a strong relationship.
- Make sure to treat all workers with the same inclusion whether they are permanent or contingent workers.
At The Planet Group, we utilize a combination of technology and industry experience to create efficient processes for our clients. We deploy our global set of resources and recruitment tools to create a world-class recruitment pipeline for our clients. Finding a mutual fit at the beginning is just as important as maintaining the employer-employee relationships moving forward.
3. CREATE CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLANS
Any employer should offer a career development framework for employees. Employees with performance goals are 17 times more likely to be engaged at work. The study showed that this is in part because most people want to succeed in their positions and make accomplishments.
At The Planet Group, we show our clients how to deploy career advancement opportunities, requirements, and training programs for their employees. By creating a well thought out development plan, you’re showing the opportunity for growth within the company and driving employee performance.
4. DEVELOP SKILLED LEADERSHIP
The relationship between managers and employees directly affects how employees feel about their work and accounts for 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores. Strong leaders know how to utilize employee skills while making them feel like a valued part of the organization through clear communication, feedback, and understanding. According to a Gallup study, great leadership consists of the following skills:
- Motivating all employees to perform and expressing a compelling and clear mission and vision
- Being assertive when it comes to handling resistance and mishaps
- Cultivating accountability
- Developing trusting, open relationships
Staying away from internal politics and making decisions based on productivity
The same study found that 82% of companies employ managers that do not possess the above talents, but that doesn’t mean these skills can’t be learned. Investing in leadership development can be one of the most effective ways to increase employee engagement. The Planet Group utilizes a global team of workforce solutions experts that help our clients develop these skills in their workplaces.
5. BOOST THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
It’s perplexing that businesses have traditionally viewed the customer experience as something to be upheld and treasured above all else when you consider that employees are truly your most important asset. In fact, putting your employees first actually results in happier clients and even an increase of 20% in sales, not to mention an increase in employee engagement.
Firms should mirror the concept of customer experience via fostering rewards, incentives, and a positive corporate culture. Remember: a brand is defined by the experience of their customers. This experience is delivered by your employees. Invest in them. Focus on creating a rewarding employee experience by discovering what really matters to your people.
6. OPTIMIZE COMPANY CULTURE
When it comes to the perfect corporate culture, there’s always a happy medium. You don’t want to be too overbearing, but you can’t be too laissez-faire at the risk of being lax. In the case of The Planet Group, we help our clients find equilibrium within your company culture.
Part of this process is discovering new tactics that can be fostered by communication with employees. We find your ideal mix of policies for activities, social engagement, profit sharing, and remote work. Everything depends on your business, and we customize our tactics to what works specifically for you.
THE SECRET: PUT YOUR EMPLOYEES FIRST
That’s the big secret: become an employee-centered company. With any luck, this guide will encourage you to rethink your employee engagement tactics in a positive way. This is what it’s all about and we’re happy to help.
At The Planet Group, we improve upon the employee engagement and retention rates of our clients. To determine your customized employee engagement plan, click the button below to request a free, no-obligation consultation call with one of our experts today!