Employee retention strategies your startup have overlooked

Starting to wonder why your employee turnover rate is creeping up, but unsure how to manage it? Here we detail some proven employee retention strategies that you may not have considered.

Employees are the biggest asset to your startup, which is why it’s so important to know how to keep your rock-star talent on board. With employee turnover causing a real problem for many businesses, startups are no exception. As startups are notorious for higher labour turnover rates it can come as a cost to your success in more than just a financial way. So, you should consider some employee retention strategies to keep your staff for longer.

“With the constant need to hire and train new employees, it is easy to veer from true mission and vision of the organization.” Miki Markovich, www.chron.com

To enable you to focus on getting your startup up and running, it’s good practice to invest some time in ensuring you are able to retain your employees for the long run. So here, we give you some strategies that are easy to implement and don’t have to come with a high cost to your company:

1. Provide outplacement

It goes without saying that job insecurity has very few, if any, positives. According to IZA, job insecurity adversely affects employee health, so far much as one study revealing those with high job insecurity have a 32% greater risk of heart disease than those in highly secure jobs. This consequence of both lowered physical and mental well-being has the knock-on effect of more sick days, lower productivity and overall lower employee morale.

There are many ways of improving job insecurity but one which is becoming more effective and utilized by smaller organizations is using services for laid off employees. By offering career transition support to employees in the unfortunate event of a lay off, the benefits can improve retention as employees feel secure that they will be taken care of in an organizational crisis.

Further Reading: The Essential Guide To Outplacement Services

2. Get your hiring process right

With industry statistics showing that more than 80% of all new hires decide whether or not to stay at a company within the first 6 months, it is crucial that this is the first step to improving employee retention. Not only does this include getting the initial recruitment process right, but the often overlooked onboarding procedure once the new recruit is hired.

Your interest in a job candidate cannot end once they become an employee and a strong onboarding process will immerse the new hire into the culture, engaging them at the first stage which pays off in the longer term for better retention rates.

3. Track retention

Being busy with a startup and managing turnover can feel like an added pressure. But if you don’t track retention rates, how can you improve them? By tracking figures, you can start to look at patterns emerging and investigate areas that are highlighting issues. Some good advice regarding the employee data you should track and why can be found here.

4. Provide development

Training that helps each employee develop their skills to better perform within their current role is appreciated as a benefit and in turn increases employee loyalty which is linked directly to retention.

Some ways to incorporate training into your startup include:

• Seminars, workshops and classes either online or in the workplace
• Mentoring and coaching on the job
• Open university courses
• Conferences
• Employee relocation opportunities

With many options available on the market to suit any company budget, there’s no excuse not to adopt a learning culture within your startup to get the best talent and keep them.

5. Employee benefits

There are benefits available to employees in many forms, so it’s worth looking into what benefits suit the ethos of your startup, most of which can be applied easily. From tailored benefit packages to inexpensive small perks, this could make your startup company stand out against the competition in the bid to retain your staff.

So, get your employee retention strategies aligned with your startup goals and it will ensure a return on investment later on.