Finding talent was one of the biggest challenges facing businesses in Manchester in 2022, and that doesn’t show any sign of letting up soon.
Last year, unemployment fell to its lowest level in almost 40 years, with many companies chasing a smaller pool of talent. But while a lot of management teams put significant focus on building their pipeline of talent and finding new people, retaining current employees is often overlooked.
And, yet, one of the best and most cost-effective ways to tackle this challenge is to take more steps to retain your current team. If you do more to retain your current team members, you will have to find fewer people to fill the gaps.
In this article, we look at some of the top tips for increasing retention at your business.
1. Provide opportunities for growth and development
People don’t only go to work to earn a salary. They are also looking to develop themselves as individuals through building new skills, capabilities, and areas of expertise.
Companies should consider adding a thoughtful personal development programme for team members to improve their skills. This might include allocating each team member a training budget to pay for courses, training, or development activities, but it could also include inviting in training partners occasionally to deliver on-site training sessions.
When team members get to the end of the year, you want them to be able to look back and see that they have gained new experiences and skill sets across the year. You also want team members to come into the office and feel like they work in a supportive environment that cares for its staff.
2. Increase the visibility of the leadership team
People don’t only see themselves as working for brands; they see themselves working for people, whether that’s their direct line manager or the CEO of the company. And, yet, many companies do not invest in the visibility of their leadership team, either within or outside of their company.
This leave many team members feeling unsatisfied and unmotivated. In fact, recent research by PR agency Profile found that half of people said that they thought that the leadership teams of their current companies were not visible enough, with 20% saying that they should be much more visible.
Companies led by well-known people in the industry are always at an advantage when it comes to poaching new talent, so make sure that your leadership team is sufficiently recognised to compete.
3. Foster a positive work culture
When people come into the office, they want to enter an office that is enjoyable and energising. And they want to work with people that they not only enjoy spending time with, but who push them to do better and more engaging work.
But creating a positive, immersive, and friendly culture is much more difficult than it sounds. At its very base, it starts with embedding supportive and positive cultural values across the team and management; you need to create a sense that the full team are part of a cohesive company that sees the world in a very particular way.
You might also want to think of ways to help colleagues bond and form strong, deep relationships: running regular social events, designing an away day for the team, or even putting aside some company resource for after work drinks.
4. Offer competitive compensation and benefits
Ultimately, you also need to make sure that the salaries at your company are competitive. But, you shouldn’t just think of remuneration only in terms of the pay cheque at the end of the month: you should also think about holiday allowance, gym membership, health insurance, and much else besides.
There is a lot of growing evidence that younger team members are often a lot more interested in additional workplace benefits than just a higher salary. This is why we have a seen a number of the largest employers, especially in the highly competitive technology start-up sector, where companies have added free canteens, well-being rooms, on-site gyms, and much else besides.
5. Provide clear communication and transparency
Finally, retaining your team isn’t only about just adding benefits to your company. It is also about taking steps to remove as much potential negatively from your workplace as possible. In particular, in some companies there is a resistance to communicating openly and transparently about the company and its challenges.
This can often lead to a secretive culture built on rumours, insinuations, and gossip. It is much better to build a culture where everyone is free to discuss issues and challenges, and get the full picture.
Taken together, retaining talent should be an absolute priority for companies that want to succeed, but it is important to have an developed and thought-through retention strategy. The tips in this article should help you get ahead of your competition.
