3 Top Tips for Increasing Employee Retention

When your workers are no longer all working in the same location, there can sometimes be a feeling of loss. Specifically, many workers, whether they know it or not, enjoy the social aspect of going to work and sharing their thoughts with coworkers.

As such, when this is suddenly taken away from them, it can be a jarring experience. Plus, when the worker starts working from home, they might begin to wonder about what their ideal work schedule would look like.

They might ask themselves questions like:

What would it be like to work full-time from home?

Could I develop digital skills and find a new career that lets me work from anywhere?

If I can’t talk with my coworkers face to face, what connects me to my current job?

These questions are of course a concern to managers, as they suggest that employee retention rates could plummet the moment workers are made to take their work home.

However, we’re here to reassure you that it doesn’t have to be this way.

There are many things you can do to keep your employees loyal, and boost retention even in the face of drastic change.

In this guide we’ll explore some of the best strategies you can rely on for keeping your employees happy while working remotely, so you don’t have to be so worried about them jumping ship.

Embrace the Remote Work Dynamic

If your business is ill-equipped for remote work, what’s to stop your employees seeking employment elsewhere?

If your workers know that other companies will cover the costs of an ergonomic work setup, set them up with the best project management tools, and allow for flexible work schedules according to individual worker’s needs, then they’ll have a hard time justifying staying put.

As such, you need to make a conscious effort to embrace the remote work dynamic, even if you are resistant to it. While it may seem like once the pandemic dies down everything will go back to normal, you can’t take that risk.

Why?

Because assuming anything in life is dangerous, but also because remote work life is a possibility for anyone now, so it’s not something people are going to forget about in a hurry. If you are slow to adapt, you might find that when you go back to the office your team is much smaller than it was before.

Don’t make the mistake of the Blockbusters and Kodaks of the world that failed to adapt to digital transformation when they needed to. The companies that were slow to adapt to the changing times went under, even though they were titans of their industries.

So how can you create a remote work-friendly environment?

For a start, by embracing software that is designed to facilitate remote communication and collaboration.

For example, monitoring software for employees can help you to keep tabs on how your employees spend their time and evaluate performance in real-time. Then you have project management software like Asana and Trello which can automate those tedious data entry tasks and make it fun and simple for workers to operate in a remote work team.

Introduce a Mentorship Program

The idea of having a mentor isn’t a new one by any stretch of the imagination, but it can certainly be effective for boosting worker morale and ultimately, employee retention.

How?

Well, as we alluded to earlier, the absence of a social hub in the form of the office can feel deflating to many workers so having a mentor who’s available to talk can help ease the blow.

If workers feel like they are able to talk to someone in the company about their issues and ideas, then they’re more likely to feel like they are part of something meaningful. Without direct contact with others, it’s easy to feel isolated even when you know that you’re part of something bigger.

The other benefit of introducing a mentorship program is that employees will have opportunities to have their voices heard, and this feeling of being able to contribute helps them to feel invested in the business.

This sort of scheme makes work feel more collaborative rather than being a group of individuals all working in their own bubbles.

Incentivize Hard Work

If there’s no incentives for workers to put in extra effort every day they clock-in, then it becomes so much easier to succumb to the many distractions that pop up throughout the day.

If you can dangle the carrot of motivation in front of your employees, then you will be able to get much more of them. Not only will this likely boost their productivity levels, but it will also make them feel like they’re making an impact as you praise their work consistently and hit the goals you set on a regular basis.

So how can you incentivize hard work?

Flexible schedules

One of the best ways to get your employees to put in solid shifts every time they show up for work is to allow them to work on their own terms.

This may not be something you are able to offer, but if it is, you should give your workers the option to set their own hours or at least their starting time.

If you use time tracking software like Workpuls, then it doesn’t matter if your workers start at 9am or 10.30am because you will know exactly how many hours they put in over the course of the day.

Rewards

Another way to incentivize hard work is through rewards.

Rewards can be anything from gift cards and coupons to extra vacation days and experiences.

If you feel like your team would be motivated by performance-related goals then by all means set a target and let them compete for an enticing reward.

Final Thoughts

There are many ways to boost employee retention even when you’ve adopted a remote work dynamic.

First and foremost, embrace the remote work dynamic as it’s here to stay, and then you can start to think about reward programs and mentorship programs as icing on the cake.

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