The job market may be leaning in favor of employers right now, but still, they struggle to keep employees in place with highly sought after skills that are in-demand. It is estimated that nearly 3 million people in North America quit their jobs every month, in search of greener pastures. If you are an employer, and you lose your top employees, it may be time to do everything in your power to prevent your other hires from quitting.

The good news is that there are a variety of methods you can deploy, to greatly reduce the chances of employees leaving your organization. The secret boils down to understanding the reasons, which may cause them to leave; only then can you create an enabling environment, so that they are aware that the work they are inputting, is worth their continued stay within your organization. Read below, to learn about some of the most effective employee retention strategies, which you can use starting today, to ensure that you hang on to your top talent.

Have plans for professional development opportunities

Nearly all employees desire to work with employers that will give them opportunities to advance professionally. Highly skilled employees or those with high in-demand skills, will also desire to stay on top of their game by continuously enhancing their career portfolio, through additional training, and the acquisition of new skills. If you are an employer, it is imperative that you put in place programs that allow employees develop professionally. There are various ways through which you can achieve this, including offering internal training opportunities, organizing seminars and workshops, for refresher training, and providing facilities for further studies for employees who wish to go back to school, to get more training.

Offer competitive salaries and benefits

A recent survey by Glassdoor revealed that the top reason why most employees leave organizations, is due to their salaries. This is then followed by career growth opportunities, location, and other work benefits. This is a subtle indication that if you want to retain your top talent, then it is imperative that you also offer very competitive salaries, so that you remove the money factor from the equation.

Financial stability is a great motivating factor, especially to Gen X employees, and when you offer a competitive salary, as well as other generous benefits, you will create the sense of stability they need to stick around for a long time.

Get the right candidate at the start

If you brought in the wrong candidate right from the start, they will not stay if they don’t find their job fulfilling enough, falling short of their expectations. Mismatching candidates for particular posts, is another top reason why employees may decide to quit. As an employer, you need to be thorough in the hiring process, and ensure that you correctly match candidates to the right posts. Also, if you hire someone who doesn’t like staying in jobs, it would be unrealistic to think that they will stay with you for long. Additionally, if you have a poor onboarding process or experience, your new hires may develop negativity for the job early on, and this increases the odds that they will quit their employment.

Ensure managers are not contributing to employee departure

You have probably heard of the phrase that employees leave managers, and not companies. Well, this simply means that an employee may choose to leave, not because he doesn’t like the company, but the manager is somehow contributing to their departure. If this applies within your organization, even if you get top talent from the best placement agency in Montreal, if they find a manager with whom they are uncomfortable working with, they will have no option but to leave.

So, what are some of the things that can cause employees to have unhealthy relationships with their managers? Inappropriate advancements, managers playing favorites, making informal threats, not allowing for development opportunities, feeling a lack of appreciation, and feeling that their pain points are not being addressed. Well, if you manage to handle the above issues with your managers, or have policies in place to leave no room for such occurences, then you will have significantly reduced your odds of losing some of your top employees.

Encourage leadership, not bossiness

The current setup is where everyone wants to be a boss, yet no one wants to be a leader. Some people think that it is fashionable to be in a position where you sit back and give orders, yet the ideal employee is looking for someone who can offer leadership. If you want to keep your employees, then you must exude the characteristics of effective leadership.
These qualities include:

• Offering clear direction towards the future
• Displaying the ability to handle challenges
• Having a genuine desire to offer high quality
• Believing in the importance of people and their contributions at the workplace
• Inspiring confidence among those who follow you.

These qualities will not only allow you to become a better boss, but also a trusted leader, who is available to employees, and has a genuine concern about their wellbeing at the workplace.

The other steps you can take to improve employee retention, include ensuring that employees are appreciated and recognized, not overworking employees, allowing for flexible work arrangements, making your company a brand that employees can be proud of, and offering or arranging for wellness programs, to ensure employees are fit mentally, financially, and physically.