In 2024, team members’ turnover is expensive, costing over a trillion dollars a year in our country. Filling a position can take months, which translates into work that goes undone, and hiring just one team member after someone leaves can cost up to twice the team member’s annual salary.
Additionally, there are plenty of other reasons why loyalty and retention matter. When team members stay with your company, your organization’s productivity remains consistent. Your key knowledge and skills stay in-house. Team members’ morale improves and their engagement increases. High team members’ retention means that teams are stable, loyal, passionate, and qualified.
Loyalty and retention are usually the result of many different factors, among them: fair and adequate compensation, compelling positive culture, supportive and respectful leaders, and opportunities to learn, develop and grow. By starting to improve a few of these, you can make your company a place where potential candidates feel inspired to join, and establish longevity and stability.
I have come up with a wide range of effective and successful ways to improve team members’ engagement, loyalty and retention –and here they are:
Listen to your team members’ feedback:
More than ever, team members want their feedback to be validated, respected and heard. When they feel like leadership is listening, it can make for a winning corporate culture, and create a positive work environment. And that’s one of the key reasons team members decide to stay with their current company, or start looking elsewhere.
Create an inclusive work environment, where everyone feels like they belong:
Nearly 50% of minority team members have quit a job because they’ve experienced or witnessed discrimination at work. When team members feel safe and valued for who they are at work, they’re more likely to succeed in their jobs, and stay with their organization.
Offer flexible working arrangements:
If there’s one thing team members have voiced repeatedly during the pandemic, it’s that they want a say over where and when they work. So, to keep your best team members, try to offer as much flexibility as possible. Team members who feel their companies offer enough flexible options are almost 3 times more likely to report being happy in their jobs and over 2 times more likely to recommend working for the company.
Pay your team members fairly and adequately:
A higher salary is not always the top reason people look for a new job, but paying your team members adequately and fairly will provide them with plenty of incentive to stay. Review your compensation to detect and correct any pay inequities, particularly for team members from underrepresented groups and for women, including mothers with young children.
Give one-time cash incentives:
In addition to updating your overall compensation package, consider offering team members one-time bonuses, work-from-home stipends, or help in paying down student loans. Perks like these can foster loyalty and retention –and make team members feel appreciated.
Be transparent about compensation:
The topic of fair pay for team members has received a considerable amount of attention over time because historically underpaid groups were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. By being transparent about salaries, you can help close this pay gap, create fairer and more adequate pay, and build trust with your teams.
Provide generous benefits, including mental health care, for team members and their families:
The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and robust mental health benefits are one way you can show team members you care. According to a 2021 study, 86% of team members ages 18 to 29 say they’d be more likely to stay at a company that provides high-quality mental health resources.
Support working parents by offering good childcare benefits:
During the pandemic, women left their jobs in droves because their childcare had fallen through, revealing how crucial childcare is to keeping parents in the workforce. You can support working parents by offering onsite daycare centers, backup childcare, and cash subsidies for care.
When recruiting, be realistic about the job up front:
It’s important during the recruiting process to disclose to a candidate any challenges with the role or company they may face if they’re hired. That way, a candidate won’t feel betrayed by any surprises after they join the company. If they know what they’re getting into before they start, they’ll be better set up for success.
Create a strong first impression with your onboarding program:
The way in which you welcome a new hire and usher them into your company has an enormous impact on how they feel about the organization. Companies that ace the onboarding process have better retention and talent branding too.
Pair new team members with a mentor:
Mentors can make newcomers feel welcome, offer guidance, and act as a sounding board. An in-depth case study found that retention rates were significantly higher for mentees (72%) and for mentors (69%) than those who did not participate (49%) in the mentoring program.
Conduct team members’ stay interviews:
If you want team members to stick around, talk to them about exactly what would help them do so, in a stay interview. Ask them what they envision for their future at your company? How can their jobs be improved? This gives you a chance to nip any problems in the bud, and conducting effective stay interviews helps boost retention and loyalty, raise engagement, and improve your company’s culture.
Encourage “boomerangs”:
Even if team members are leaving, you can always urge them to come back with a positive exit interview. Some companies are drawing former team members back by offering to immediately vest them in long-term compensation plans. Welcoming back former team members will also make your current teams feel welcome.
Promote internal mobility:
Team members who have the opportunity to move around within a company, whether by being promoted or by moving to new jobs in different departments, are more likely to stay with the company. LinkedIn data shows that team members stick around 41% longer at companies that have strong internal mobility programs compared with team members at companies that have weak internal mobility offerings or none. By building a formalized internal recruiting program, you can also proactively reach out to team members who might be good for new roles.
Establish career development plans, so team members can chart clear paths to grow within the company:
When people have clear goals and the motivation to reach them, they’re more likely to stay. Encourage managers to schedule quarterly, twice-yearly, or annual chats to sit down with team members and talk about where they want to head in their career.
Create plenty of opportunities for upskilling:
Team members want to keep their skills current, so that they can stay relevant and advance their careers. That’s why companies that are rated highly for team members’ training have a 53% lower attrition rate. LinkedIn research shows that 94% of team members said they would stay at a company longer if they were offered more learning opportunities.
Make good use of the various skills your team members already have:
According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report, team members who feel their skills are not being put to good use are 10 times more likely to look for a new job. Team members are hungry for a vote of confidence in what they have to offer, and they’re also willing to retrain when they need to add more skills.
Encourage open and effective management:
Talent professionals have heard this truism many times: People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their managers. LinkedIn data backs this up, showing that companies rated highly for “open and effective management” also had significantly higher retention. Consider investing in management development and training, so team members can have leaders they’re inspired to work for.
Keep your team members engaged:
When team members feel like they’re fully engaged in their jobs, they tend to be more satisfied, enjoy their work and the organization, and believe that their team members value their contribution. They’re also 5 times less likely to quit than team members who feel disengaged.
Promote a healthy work-life balance:
According to a 2021 LinkedIn survey, work-life balance is now the leading priority for job seekers, even more than outstanding compensation and benefits. When team members are stressed and burned out, they’re often tempted to look for another job. You can promote a healthy work-life balance by encouraging team members to avoid working excessive hours, take more vacation, and turn off emails after hours to avoid the temptation to respond.
Schedule recurring check-ins with team members:
It’s no longer enough for managers to say that they have an open-door policy. Leaders now need to schedule regular, recurring meetings to talk to team members about their workload and job satisfaction. Team members who can express their ideas, questions, and concerns to their manager are more likely to feel valued at the company.
Seek feedback often:
Use team members’ feedback tools and surveys to take the pulse of the company on a regular basis. Then, after you receive feedback, act on it. Team members who feel heard are 4.6 times more likely to stay inspired and motivated, which means they’re also less likely to start looking for another job.
Praise a job well done by implementing an internal recognition program:
Team members want to be recognized for their achievements, whether it’s finishing a major project ahead of a deadline or reaching a five-year work anniversary. According to a recent human resources survey, 68% of team members said their organization’s recognition program positively affected retention.
Offer a sabbatical:
A number of companies, including Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Clif Bar, and Patagonia, offer their team members sabbaticals after working at the organization for a set number of years. This is a largely untapped way to boost your brand and retention. For example, team members at Clif Bar rank the sabbatical as one of their most important perks, and the company’s turnover has historically been less than 3%.
Stay true to your purpose:
More than ever, team members want to work at companies that align with their values and are making a positive change in the world. That’s why it’s important to demonstrate, in an authentic way, that there’s more to your organization than the bottom line. An effective way to help team members see the impact of their work is by showing them how it affects customers, clients or guests, depending on your industry, through customers, clients and guests’ success stories or case studies.
Strengthen your wellness programs:
According to a Deloitte report, 80% of team members considered well-being crucial to their organization’s success. To boost wellness, consider offering stress management programs, online fitness classes (or reimbursement for in-person classes), money management webinars, and healthy recipe exchanges. When people can tend to their health and wellness, they’re likely to be happier in their jobs.
Communicate with your employees:
In a time of so much uncertainty, it’s important to be transparent with your team members about what is happening in the company and where things are headed. When you communicate regularly during times of change, it helps to lessen team members’ fears, worries and anxieties about their jobs.
Create connections among team members:
Start creating connections as soon as someone joins the company, through shared learning experiences, formal and informal activities to help team members get to know one another, and mentorship. Encourage team members to work together on projects too. People who have a best friend at work are 7 times more likely to be engaged in their job and are less likely to leave.
Offer unlimited PTO:
Okay, I get it —not every organization can do this. This is one of the ultimate perks, however, telling team members, “We trust that you’ll take off any time you need or want, and still get your work done.” If you do take the plunge, keep in mind that one of the potential challenges is that sometimes people take less time off with unlimited PTO than if they have a set amount of vacation time each year. So, create a positive culture that encourages vacation time. Research shows that taking more vacation leads to more success at work and more happiness at work and at home.
Be empathetic:
Nearly everyone has struggled over the past few years, which has sometimes made showing up for work and excelling at your job rather difficult. But when leaders and team members try to understand what each person is going through, it makes the workplace feel more welcoming, and it creates a healthy and positive environment. Team members who feel heard, understood, cared for, and validated, work harder, take more risks, and help others succeed. That, in turn, improves production, as well as loyalty, and retention.
Happy Sailing! 😊
