Employee retention doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. To minimize turnover and keep your top talent right where they are – growing and contributing within the walls of your own company – it all comes down to valuing your top performers, and letting them know that you value them.

Salary and benefits are important, without a doubt. But they are not reason enough for employees to stay at your company for the long haul. Overall job satisfaction is the key to optimizing your retention rate.

Can you afford to keep your top talent? The answer is simple: You can’t afford not to.

The Price Tag

Turnover is expensive, and in today’s marketplace, top performers have multiple options for employment.

• The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that employee replacement costs can be as high as 50 to 60 percent of an individual’s annual salary. Total cost associated with turnover are twice as high. Retention is critical, yet only 53 percent of companies have talent management initiatives in place.

Use these strategies to stay ahead of the curve:

Hire Right – and Keep Up the Good Work

Effective retention begins with sourcing and hiring. As you walk a candidate through the process, remember that skill set + cultural fit = success. Continue to grow and nurture your top talent.

• Identify five to 10 common traits of your current top performers. Seek those attributes in people you hire.
• Provide ongoing learning opportunities. Beginning with orientation and onboarding, train new employees well. They benefit by expanding their skills, and you benefit by gaining a more productive workforce.
• Offer career development plans. Employees are more likely to stay if they have a vision of their future role within your organization. Make sure they know what it will take to progress. Have their managers meet with them regularly to discuss the trajectory of their careers and how the company can help them achieve their goals.
• Invest in your management team. People don’t quit their jobs; they quit their bosses. Provide ongoing leadership training and support, so your employees have managers who are professional, fair, and adept at communication. If team members demonstrate strong abilities to lead, promote them.

Recognize Your Employees for Their Contributions

In order to retain top talent, you must make them feel appreciated, respected and worthwhile. Research shows that when employees feel undervalued, they look for other employment. They need to feel that their contributions to the bigger picture are important.

• Don’t make your employees feel like overhead. Instead, constantly reinforce the fact that they are assets to your organization and its future. Get to know them as individuals and ensure that they feel secure in their jobs. Give them ownership – and help them to feel it.
• Recognition needs to be specific. It doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. In many cases, a verbal “thank you” works wonders – as long as it’s heartfelt. “Good job” is nice, but “good job solving the repair issue on the number 10 widget building machine last week” is much better. Top talent is smart enough to know the difference between sincere appreciation and platitudes.

For additional assistance in positioning your organization for retention success, contact the recruitment team at CPS Recruitment^®. We’ll partner with you to customize a plan geared toward building your industry-leading strategy.