Strategies of Retention
The purpose behind establishing employee retention strategies is to create a balance between an employee's current situation and their preferences. Some of the employee retention strategies are given below:
1) Attractive Compensation:
The employee's remuneration or compensation package means a complete amount of pay which is transferred to an employee on a yearly basis.
Beside basic pay it includes fringe benefit, services provided either in free or in subsidised amount, payment in kind. Organisation must organise regular surveys and compare their compensation systems, practices, and policies with the industry best practices.
Compensation must be directly linked with organisational strategies in order to meet organisational goals effectively and efficiently. In order to motivate employees to attain commitment and greater performance toward organisational goals, organisations must introduce better policies and practices for compensation.
2) Sound Recognition Programmes:
Money highly motivates employees, but only to a certain extent. In order to motivate and retain employees within an organisation, the employee recognition system plays a very! crucial role.
Therefore, organisations must institute different recognition programmes which include social personal, and professional activities of the employee. For example, CEO award, employee of the month award, star team award, best sportsman, star performer award, etc.
Recognition increases motivation and enhances morale of the employee, whether it is personal achievement or team work and it also increases commitment of employees toward their organisation.
3) Personal Development Plans:
When an employee participates in training and development programmes then it is not only his/her skills and competencies which increases, but this programme also helps organisation to gain employee's confidence, level of performance, dedication, etc.
Further, these training and development programmes also help employees to boost their career with the help of which employee can also vision himself/herself at some higher designation. Thus, personal development programmes help in retaining the employees.
4) Sound Socialisation Practices:
The socialisation practice followed by organisation helps it in mixing fresh employees within the organisation. Socialisation programme introduced by organisations plays a crucial role in gaining information about organisation, organisational expectation regarding performance of job.
building good relationships with employees and organisations, etc. Further, this socialisation programme helps in building a fit between organisational culture and employee's objective and motivations. Hence, a good socialisation programme helps organisations in building long-run relationships with employees.
5) Appropriate Working Conditions:
If we eliminate the time a person sleeps from his/her life, then almost 80% of an employee's life is spent in his/her workplace. Hence, the work environment plays a very crucial role in employee's retention.
If the organisation supplies a better work environment, like, better safety measures. welfare programmes, etc., and offers programmes for employee assistance, then it is more likely that employee's turnover ratio will be very low and employees will remain satisfied and motivated.
6) Quality of Work Life Programmes:
With the introduction of globalisation, the pressure of high competition affects the employees in multiple ways. Hence, it enhances employee's stress and tension by increasing their work burden and working hours.
Nowday's families possess both partners as wage earners and both of them have an increasing work burden. Hence, a quality of work life programme will be beneficial to retain employees.
Furthermore, the organisation must also offer their employees different benefits, like childcare and maternal benefits, stress coping programmes, counselling programmes for personal and professional life, etc.
7) Job Design:
In order to improve employee's performance, skill and satisfaction, organisations must make jobs more competitive, interesting, and challenging. This not only enhances productivity of employees but it also enhances employee's contribution.
8) Participative Management:
A participative management is a programme, where management seeks the participation of employees in suggesting their decision regarding the issues they face in organisation.
With participation in management related activities, employees feel themselves as a part of the organisation and this results in their motivation.
For this, enhanced interactive and open communication across and between various levels, is essential on the part of the organisation.
9) Performance Management System:
This system enables employees to fix their targets and work priorities jointly with their superiors and must look for valuable feedback from them in order to enhance their level of performance.
Hence, employees feel themselves as an important part of the organisation which will increase their dedication towards organisational objectives and goals.
10) Knowledge Transfer:
For the development of an employee through their work, knowledge sharing plays a crucial role. Hence, those organisations which support the flow of knowledge within organisation are more! likely to retain its employees.
In order to promote sharing of knowledge, organisations establish various learning tools and T&D programmes. Further, in order to continuously improve employees, organisations need to bring in regular enhancement in T&D and education programmes.
11) Organisational Culture:
The organisational culture depends on how well it can hold employee's emotions and point of views.
It is very hard to say what actually makes a best organisational culture. Though, organisations having commitment minded culture appears to be more satisfied, productive and motivated.
12) Equal Opportunity Practices:
When an organisation follows fair, unbiased and transparent practices, then the employee prefers to remain in the same organisation.
It is often seen that organisation loses its skilled and experienced employees due to unbiased practices followed by organisation.
The three most crucial practices of equal prospect followed within organisation include reward, compensation, and recognition.
13) Preventing Employee Poaching:
In such a competitive world, mostly service sector organisations assume employees as centre stage then filling the vacancies of experienced executives becomes very competitive and extensive.
Therefore, in order to retain their current employees, organisations must take several measures like keeping email as confidential, keeping a check on telephone operators or organisations and avoid providing valuable info, rejection to make any further deal with agents who have backstabbed organisations ever earlier.
14) Employer Branding:
Employer branding not only helps organisation in attracting the best aspirant, but it also helps organisation in employee's retention and employee's satisfaction.
With an objective to keep employees retained within the organisation, the organisation must make sure that there is no perception gap between people who are external and internal to the organisation.
Bringing together employer brand and employee values together is more likely to deliver better motivation and satisfaction to employees.