(ThyBlackMan.com) A good workforce can be the deciding factor in the success of any organization and has thus always been one of the most important tasks for managers. But merely recruiting skilled workers is not enough. In order to stay competitive and efficient, a company must be able to maintain that workforce.
Understanding the problem
Before we can move on to how we can tackle the problems of high employee turnover, we must first understand them. Simply put, employee retention is the ability of an organization to keep its employees in their job positions for a certain time period. Similarly, employee turnover (generally represented as a rate) is the percentage at which a company loses its employees. The lower the employee turnover rate, the better.
It is important for an organization to calculate and analyze both of these metrics in order to better understand the current position of the company in terms of how it’s managing its employees.
Benefits of Improved Employee Retention
A company that is not able to retain its employees has to face a number of disadvantages and usually has to work harder than its competitors to achieve the same results. A good employee retention policy can go a long way in improving multiple aspects of the organization. Here are a few benefits of improved employee retention:
1. Lower costs: When a worker decides to leave the organization, a job position becomes vacant. This position must be filled in order for everyday business processes to continue. However, recruiting new workers costs time, money and effort as you recruit, select and train new employees. In fact, every year in the US alone, companies faces losses up to billions due to employee turnover. Taking measures to retain employees can lead to substantial savings which can be put to better use.
2. Improved Efficiency: An employee leaving the organization can lead to a number of unwanted events such as slower production, reduced morale, and even complete halt in production. However, improving your business’s employee retention can boost the overall efficiency and effectiveness by overcoming these problems.
3. Competitive Edge: Organizations – both public and private – rely on the expertise of their employees in order to compete favorably and indeed gain competitive advantage in the international market. This expertise, however, is gained through staying with the organization and learning its way – which is not possible with a high turnover rate.
Using Technology to Improve Employee Retention
Even though, employee turnover is a major threat to companies, managing it has been becoming less and less of a challenge as time passes by. Due to advancements in technology, companies now have a better chance at fighting the problem of employee retention.
1. Empowering Employees: Studies show that one of the major reasons behind employees leaving their positions is a lack of autonomy in the workplace. However, with introduction of new computer programs that keep track of employee performance, managers can give more freedom to employees without having to worry.
2. Bridging Communication Gaps: Employees are bound to leave if there is a lack of communication in the organization. Mobile apps and software help tackle this problem of delayed or even overall lack of communication. Managers can make use of features like Instant messaging, push notifications, group chats, etc. to keep the team informed and inside the loop at all times.
3. Manage conflicts: More often than not, a simple disagreement is all it takes for an employee to pack up and leave. Conflicts which are usually caused by easily preventable misunderstandings such as scheduling conflicts, overtime rules overdue breaks, etc. All of which can be easily managed by you using a simple employee scheduling software.
4. Employee scheduling software: The days of excel employee scheduling and paper and pen schedules are long gone. An employee scheduling software is capable of doing a wide range of tasks. From creating employee schedules to ensuring compliance. They can also be a valuable tool at reducing employee turnover by doing things like:
- Reducing confusion and ambiguity among employees by confirming shifts and sending alerts. Employees have no reason to miss a shift now.
_____ - Talent management. Employee scheduling software can keep track of certificates, licenses and other employee details that can be used to ensure that each employee is manning the position that’s meant for him or her.
_____ - Identifying early warning signals. Managers can identify dissatisfaction among employees by keeping a closer look on their employees’ activities such as their working hours, missing shifts, ignoring messages or alerts, etc.
Staff Writer; Gary Shaw
