10 Tips for Boosting Employee Engagement and Retention

With a recession underway, there’s never been a better time for companies to ask hard-hitting questions regarding their bottom line. Preventive measures can be just as beneficial as corrective ones to help companies pinch pennies when times get tough.

One area of preventative measure that can have a high yield is employee retention. With the rise of inflation, any ways to improve profits and minimize costs are welcome — and keeping employees engaged and working is a powerful strategy. Due to the cost of new hire onboarding, and training, it actually pays to keep employee retention high.

Here are some helpful tips to boost employee engagement and retention, which can save your company a substantial amount of money in the long run.

1. It Starts with Engagement

One of the key methods of keeping your employees around is giving them a reason to stay around — and that’s called engagement. Still, not all forms of engagement are created equal. It takes the right type of employee engagement to boost your retention rates.

“Engagement is about placement and purpose. Put the right people in the right places, and watch them stand the test of time,” says Ryan Rottman, Co-Founder and CEO of OSDB. “At the end of the day, an employee that sticks around is one that finds some level of pride in their work.”

Employee engagement may take some reshaping and work to achieve. You’ll need research, time, and even some trial and error before you start seeing the fruits of your labor.

2. Let’s Talk Resources

Some workplaces put a high demand on their employees, while some jobs simply are challenging, even in the best circumstances. Once you’ve mindfully hired employees, you need to give them resources to succeed in their positions.

“Resources are more than just complementary coffee or bare-minimum equipment. Offer your time, skilled management, access to leadership, and support and help where it’s needed,” says Matt Masiello, Chief Marketing Officer of BabyBuddha. “When a company thinks giving employees resources they already should have is a ‘moral boosting’ measure, you can’t expect retention rates to be great.”

Physical and emotional resources are important to help employees deal with the natural burdens of their work and maintain high standards of excellence. Seeing which resources benefit your workforce most and investing in them could lead to improved trends in employee retention over time.

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3. Competitive Pay and Benefits Are Important

A fundamental aspect of employee retention is giving your staff a reason to stay that outside of their job itself. While your employees should be passionate individuals who love their positions, your business’s appeal should extend past their job descriptions.

“To make your employees want to stick around, a business has to realize that their time is valuable and needs to be rewarded appropriately. This means competitive pay, competitive benefits, and a safe environment,” says Trina Johnson, CEO of Blue Forest Farms. “If a company wants to retain good talent, give that talent a reason to stay.”

No matter how much an employee may love or be passionate about their role with an organization, competitive pay and benefits are still the best ways to help increase retention. Today’s employee benefits programs are expanding to include lifestyle spending accounts and many types of stipends for food allowances and work from home expenses.

4. Culture, Culture, Culture

Although workplace culture is oft-discussed, it can still feel like a puzzle that’s hard to solve. How do you create an engaging, competitive, and resource-rich culture that helps support employee retention?

“One of the most important aspects of company culture is soft skills. A company can invest in some of the most competitive resources available. However, without empathy and a true connection to employees, it can be easy to feel a disconnect.” says Soji James, Lead Expert Certified personal trainer at 1AND1. “Creating a culture of connection and empathy is challenging but highly-valuable to talented employees that may be considering other options.”

Finding creative ways to create connections while maintaining high workplace standards can help reassure employees of their worth in a company. Culture exists regardless of whether a company recognizes it, so finding ways to improve your culture is imperative.

5. Opportunity for Growth

One of the best ways to help keep employees engaged in the workplace for the long haul is to incentivize them with growth opportunities.

“A company that purposefully encourages vertical and horizontal movement can help it’s employees know they are encouraged to grow. Personal development within the workplace and can help employees see a place in their company for years to come,” says Brianna Bitton, Co-Founder of O Positiv.

There is a difference between an employee who is content to stay in one place and one that feels trapped. Encouraging and giving opportunities for growth within a company is an open invitation for long-term retention.

6. Remember To Have Fun

Budgets can get tight, and cutting back on employee perks can feel like a smart place to start. However, the cost of turnover is also significant. The “fun” that’s built into an employee’s experience at your company shouldn’t be an afterthought or an easy

“Personality and culture go a long way, so investing in something as simple as a pizza day can do wonders for employee morale,” says Drew Sherman, VP of Marketing at RPM. “Finding ways of letting employees know they are valued is oftentimes easier than expected; something as simple as an employee picnic can go a long way.”

Even small ways for employees to engage in something other than work can create bonds and boost morale in positive ways.

7. Clear Communication

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of human relationships is communication. Investing in solid, strategic, and clear communication strategies can boost morale, improve employee retention, and benefit your company overall.

“Good communication is the key to efficiency,” says Christian Kjaer, CEO of ElleVet Sciences. “If a company wants to improve every aspect of its infrastructure, production, and employee life span, then improving communication is non-negotiable.”

Clear, consistent communication can help to set expectations that can have powerful results and help employees avoid frustration and burnout.

8. Work To Manage Expectations

In the same vein as communication, managing employee expectations is vital. Although clear communication is a necessity, the message being communicated is equally important.

“Companies that focus on challenging their employees and not overwhelming them will find growth rather than burnout,” says Matthew Morein, VP of Brand and Creative at Psycho Bunny who designs and sells polo shirts for men. “It can be easy to confuse the two. A challenge can help an employee grow and stay engaged, while unreal expectations or bad communication can make that same employee feel unappreciated.”

Strategizing the boundaries of challenge within a workplace environment and ensuring that an employee’s workload is not overwhelming will help to enforce a sense of trust and worth. Both of these qualities can go a long way to helping employees realize they belong and should invest their careers in a particular business.

9. How Is the Onboarding Experience?

In business and life, the importance of a first impression can not be overstated. Onboarding is the first real taste of life and culture within a company for an employee, and it’s an impression that will stick with them for their entire tenure at your business.

“If there’s one area to focus in on strategy and engagement, it’s onboarding,” says Scott Chaverri, CEO of Mito Red Light, a company giving people the opportunity to do red light therapy at home. “The trick here is that onboarding shouldn’t be a vacuum. It should be a natural extension of a firm foundation of good culture, engaging environment, and solid clear communication that exists in the company.”

Onboarding should be a true representation of what the company offers as a career. Working to match the values of the workplace environment to the experience of onboarding is crucial.

10. Employee Wellbeing

Employee well-being must be a company’s core value if it’s looking to increase employee retention. If your retention efforts don’t start from an understanding that your employees are people with needs, they won’t be successful.

“Employees can sense whether a company is worth their time. In today’s culture, where high turnover rates and short-lived careers are common, employees are more perceptive than ever,” says Athan Didaskalou, Co-Founder of July, a brand providing travelers with some of the best carry on luggage there is to offer.

To keep employees, a company must believe that its employees are worth keeping. It’s just that simple

Playing the Long Game

It’s always difficult to choose where a company should cut costs when times get rough. Still, there are incredibly effective ways to make your company more efficient (and profitable) without risking your employees’ happiness.

Employee retention is more than just doing what it takes to keep an employee in-house. It’s about engaging with your staff, believing in their worth, and creating a company that reflects that belief.
Just take Patrick Lencioni’s word for it: “When leaders throughout an organization take an active, genuine interest in the people they manage when they invest real time to understand employees at a fundamental level, they create a climate for greater morale, loyalty, and, yes, growth.”