Recognition and rewards are probably the two most crucial aspects of staff retention. But there’s more to it than that. For instance, the CIPD found that employee turnover is often greater in the first six months of employment, either because the role was over-sold or through ineffective inductions.

Employees who want to develop their careers seek out organisations that encourage and support their people. So, doing exit interviews when people leave will help you address any issues with terms and conditions, pay and benefits, management style, employee development, and the culture/climate of the organisation. This knowledge will help you see where to make changes and tailor benefits for your employees, helping with staff retention.

Here are more of the CIPD’s findings to consider implementing within your recruitment and retention process:

Measuring Retention

The best measures are actual numbers of leavers in a period. Also, note the average length of service, age at leaving, and average age of the workforce, helping to warn of future problems. Then, consider organisational changes, e.g. processes, products, new technology, or organisation restructuring.

External changes may include economic conditions and competitive activity (especially if they lead to business downturns).

Ask Why Employees Stay

Using staff surveys to ask why people stay can identify where the threshold is for employees who decide to leave. Their answers may spotlight the good aspects, including benefits, opportunities, and management.

You may also discover the average time an employee leaves before the costs of leaving outweigh the costs of staying. Leaving can mean losing friendships, loss of increments, and transportability of pensions, whereas staying can include perceived lost opportunities to gain higher pay and new skills elsewhere.

Maintaining Relationships

Maintaining relationships with valuable employees who move on to other organisations can be beneficial. Many organisations regularly communicate with their alumni networks, looking to attract people back into the organisation in the future.

Stay Surveys

Staff pulse surveys can provide helpful information. Include questions addressing employee commitment, development, attitudes to management, etc. Couple them with direct observations from line managers to discover the state of employee thinking and to provide answers to questions such as “Why do employees stay?”

Source: CIPD – Employee Retention