Resignation of a skilled employee is always considered a loss of the manager in any company-big or small. Talented individuals seek out various career opportunities to grow, and would not miss a chance to flock to another organization that provides lucrative opportunities. As discussed in a recent blog, 2015 Will Be a Bloodbath for Talent, retention of employees should be a primary focus for your organization this year.

For a company, hiring employees is not the end of maintaining a strong workforce. This is logically followed by formulating a strategy to retain them. As per Gallup’s report of 142-country study of the global workplace, only 13% of employees are engaged in work, while 63% are disengaged due to different reasons. Surely, you would not want to let go the real assets of your organization and take every possible step to win the war for top talents.

The possible way to retain your best employees is to understand the reasons that might convince them to look for other opportunities. These include:

  • They are not paid enough– If employees are not paid according to their worth, it becomes a prime reason to move on.
  • Excessive workload– No scope of growth, lack of vision and excessive workload creates a stressful situation and disturbs the work-life balance.
  • Dissatisfactory company culture– If you are not good at creating a congenial work environment, chances are that you will find it hard to keep your top talent.

How to retain them?

You need to give reasons to your employees to make them stay with you. The following tactics can prove helpful:

Offer Competitive Packages

Do a proper research before finalizing on a pay package for a particular job role and relevant experience. Ensure that your salary calculation does not lack in terms of level of competitiveness. Apart from a basic salary, the benefit package should also include other rewards and benefits, such as health insurance, retirement saving plans, life insurance, and an appropriate leave policy. These benefits go a long way to prove your employees that the company is willing to look for the other needs of their employees.

Engage Them in More Challenging Tasks

High performing employees does not want to limit their knowledge and experience to the day-to-day, entry-level work. Non-challenging tasks would make them feel like they are not doing justice to their talent. Instead of engaging or burdening them in the mediocre tasks, try engaging them in more challenging roles that prepare them for high-level positions. This keeps the high performing employees connected with the company’s objectives. When the employees are capable to meet the deadlines, a sense of freedom and flexibility makes them feel valuable to the company.

Healthy Work Culture

Every competent employee looks for better career opportunities. If you wish to retain them, provide them with new responsibilities, and train them to perform, equally well in other areas of your business. Conduct regular meetings to create an open communication between the management and employees. Create a work culture where employees have the freedom to question their growth, feel rewarded, and have a life outside work.

Replace “Exit Interviews” with “Stay Interviews”

To understand why employees are leaving you, conduct ‘stay interviews’ with your existing employees to understand what makes them stay committed to the company, what can be done to improve the workplace, do they see any growth opportunities with the company, or what would make them leave the company. Getting answers to such questions can help you analyze the areas that need your attention to retain the top talents.

Convey What is Expected from Them

To make them feel connected with the company’s goals, it is vital to communicate clearly what the employee is expected to deliver. A clear work policy keeps any employee satisfied and confident to perform. Communication is anytime important to keep their morale high.

Be a Skilled Manager

Several researches have proved that employees do not leave organizations, they leave their bosses! To keep the best people in your team, the managers should provide a perfect platform to employees where they can achieve their personal growth (promotion, develop new skills, etc.). As a leader, mangers should support the growth of such employees, invest in their training programs, and involve them in social networking.

It is never difficult to keep your best people with you, provided you know the right strategy.

Swati-Srivastava Swati Srivastava is an avid writer with a keen interest in the extensive domain of job search and career counseling. She is Assistant Manager Content at Naukrigulf.com (a part of Infoedge), her articles are published on several reputed job search portals and online career magazine.