Five employee retention strategies to improve retention levels

Employee retention is critical to the success of every modern business.

Our previous article on retention discusses why and looks at the benefits it can generate.

It also analyses what a good employee retention rate is and touches on how reframing the issue – to think about it in terms of your business’ wider employee value proposition – can help you take a more holistic approach to improve your employee retention strategy.

Looking for more inspiration? 

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Keep reading for five employee retention strategies you can take to increase both your retention and employee engagement levels.  

#1 Offer fair compensation and pay transparency

Better compensation and benefits are often cited as the primary reason employees move job roles.

Ensuring you offer a fair compensation package can therefore play a critical role in convincing employees to stay put. But how can you work out what is fair? 

Use a salary benchmarking tool

The simplest, and most reliable way is to use a salary benchmarking tool like Figures’ all-in-one compensation platform. You can read about how this helps retention here. 

Figures covers both the European and UK markets and uses 100% verified data. It updates in real-time too, so there’s no need to worry about falling behind the competition when you use it!

Share your calculations

Pay transparency – that is sharing how your compensation packages are calculated with your employees – can also offer indirect culture benefits that will improve employee engagement and retention. 

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Find out more in this Figures x Planes case study. 

#2 Offer flexibility  

Workplace flexibility is often named as a key reason why people stay in a job.

More than one-third of European workers cited it as a factor in a recent McKinsey survey, and it was one of the top two reasons given to Mercer when they researched their 2022-2023 Global Talent Trends Report.

It’s also – according to a recent LinkedIn study – a key factor that employees will consider when they look for a new role.

So, it’s clear that offering flexibility will help you improve retention. It can generate other benefits too; in a recent study, workers with schedule flexibility reported 29% higher productivity and a 53% greater ability to focus.

By flexibility, we don’t just mean where. It can extend to how people work, and when they work, including the number of hours they do.

So, if you’re not already offering flexible working options, how can you start?

• Consider your business needs and engage with employees
• Create a policy
• Ensure infrastructure and technology is sufficient and any training needs are met
• Trial the options, monitor effects and review the results
• Tweak the policy if necessary and if implemented permanently, continue to review it regularly

As with any new process, it can take a bit of getting used to! It certainly did at Figures – here’s how we got on when we trialled a four-day working week last year!

To learn more about compensation options for flexible working, read our guide here.

#3 Increase inclusion efforts and carry out “stay interviews” 

Creating a good corporate culture is another of our employee retention strategies. 

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How employees feel they fit in with corporate culture and their relationship with their managers plays a key part in whether they will stay at an organisation. As it’s commonly said, “people leave managers not companies”.

This is evidenced by recent research which found that those who are dissatisfied with their managers are “three times more likely not to recommend their employer as a place to work, and twice as likely to leave”. 

It also found that eight out of the top ten factors motivating those surveyed to quit involve emotional rather than functional needs, including:

• Feeling fairly treated and respected
• Feeling valued and appreciated 
• Having a good relationship with a manager 

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What can managers do about it?  

They can start by measuring inclusion levels. This blog has some tips on how to do this, and explains why it is important.

If necessary, consider providing extra leadership and people management training to managers, and start to hold them accountable on inclusion and retention.

You can also make “stay interviews” with employees standard practice. Several studies have found that they increase employee retention.  

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What are stay interviews?

They are periodical informal discussions with employees about how they feel about their work and within the organisation more generally. They should be a safe space and two-way conversation, where both employees and leaders can be open and honest.

They are an opportunity to identify what could work better for both employees and leaders. This can give you the chance to address any issues and take steps to improve employee engagement before anyone leaves.

#4 Improve internal mobility 

Helping employees make an internal move boosts employee retention. 

A LinkedIn study found that those who had made an internal move within the past two years had a greater likelihood of staying with a company (75%), compared to those who had not (56%).  

It also found that opportunities for career growth within the company and to learn and develop new skills were in the top five factors employees considered when looking for a new job. 

Steps you can take to achieve this include: 

• Encourage employees to express career aspirations (e.g., in regular appraisals)
• Commit to exploring how these can be achieved 
• Offer learning and development opportunities to upskill employees and improve employee engagement

#5 Improve onboarding processes 

If you don’t already have a formal onboarding programme in place, this one’s for you! 

It has been reported that implementing a formal onboarding programme can improve employee retention by up to 50% and productivity by 62%. 

This strategy will be particularly important for companies looking to scale at pace. If that’s you, check out how Lucca used Figures’ all-in-one compensation platform as part of their scaling strategy. 

Recommended steps include: 

• Setting clear goals and measures for success 
• Creating a multi-departmental onboarding team 
• Providing support throughout the onboarding journey

Ultimately, this is the common strand running through all our employee retention strategies is to put your employees first. Let Figures help you with this! 

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Looking for more resources, tools and content?

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That's why we created Figures, you don't need to be a compensation expert, we are. With our an all-in-one compensation platform updated in real-time, expert HR and People insights, we want to make your job more efficient and power more fair decisions.

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