Ask Your Employees How to Engage and Retain Them

Ask Your Employees How to Engage and Retain Them
Ask your employees how to engage and retain them if you do not know what matters most to them and what will keep them happily contributing at work.  Here are two very compelling reasons you should find out why your employees come to work day after day.

1. Employee Turnover Is Costly
The Society for Human Resource Management reported that every time a company replaces a salaried employee it costs an average of 6 to 9 months’ salary. For an employee making $100,000 per year, that’s $50,000 to $75,000 plus benefits. And that only partially considers hidden costs such as decreased productivity, overworked remaining workers, lost knowledge, and recruiting, interviewing and training expenses.

You get the point.  Employee turnover is expensive and should be avoided whenever possible.

2. Disengaged Employees Cost Too
Based upon surveying over half a million employees across more than 5,000 organizations every year, we know that disengaged employees wreak a heavy cost too. Studies show that engaged workers are over 40% more productive than their unengaged counterparts.  But it’s not just a matter of missed opportunity; disengagement is catching and can drag down the morale, spirit and culture of your entire organization.

You want employees who look forward to coming to work, doing their part, helping their team and fulfilling the vision of the organization.

What You Can Do
It’s simple.  Ask your employees how to engage and retain them.  Discover what they like about the organization and their role in it.  You can do this in a variety of ways – one-on-one discussions, team sessions, focus groups, and/or company-wide engagement surveys.  The point is that you do not ask just once.  You keep on asking, you keep on listening and you keep on making the changes that will have a positive impact.

And Continue To Do
Use what you learn about how to engage and retain current employees to inform your hiring criteria.  If you find out that your employees really appreciate the close, open relationships they have with their leaders, make sure you find candidates who value the same connections.  Those are the hires that will thrive in your company.  Once you know the reasons employees are happily engaged in their work, capitalize on the good stuff and hire along the same lines.

The Bottom Line
Employee engagement efforts can have a measurable impact on a company’s bottom line.  It’s only smart to find out what employees like and do not like about your organization and then leverage your strengths and prioritize plans to improve your weaknesses.

If you think it makes sense to ask your employees how to engage and retain them, then download The Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Manager Effectiveness to learn more.