Low worker retention rates are unlikely to serve your business well in any regard. In addition to signaling huge problems with your treatment of employees, poor retention rates can cost you a fair amount of money and cause harm to your professional reputation. So, if large numbers of employees have been putting in their resignations as of late, it behooves you to get to the bottom of the issue. If any of the following examples apply to your business, there’s no time like the present to start making necessary changes.
Unaddressed Workplace Harassment
Although an increased amount of attention has been paid to it in recent years, workplace harassment continues to be a prevalent issue at many businesses. Furthermore, such harassment comes in a variety of different forms. Most notably, there’s sexual harassment – which, among other things, involves inappropriate touching, remarks of a sexual nature and objectification. People are also harassed in the workplace for reasons relating to race, gender and sexual orientation on a staggeringly consistent basis.
Unfortunately, the people in a position to put an end to workplace harassment are often unaware that it’s even taking place. Countless victims are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation or having their concerns minimized or dismissed altogether. Needless to say, if unaddressed harassment is a regular occurrence in your place of business, victims leaving to pursue other opportunities shouldn’t surprise you in the least.
In the interest of curbing workplace harassment, make sure to openly encourage every member of your team to come forward if they witness harassment or are victimized for it. Secondly, take care to impose strict consequences on employees who are found to have engaged in harassment or retaliation against people who have brought unsavory behavior to light. You can assuage fears of concerns being dismissed or minimized by promising to treat every accusation with due seriousness and launch proper investigations.
A Lack of Remote Work Options
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many members of the workforce were pushing for remote work, and frankly, it isn’t hard to see why. Among other things, being able to work remotely saves employees the trouble of dealing with cumbersome commutes, divisive office politics and needlessly early mornings. Because of the threat presented by the novel coronavirus, many employers with disparaging views on remote work had no choice but to embrace it – and as a direct result, employees became happier, less stressed and more productive. Since every one of these advantages can be a boon to your business, there’s no reason to require your entire workforce to return to the office.
Allowing employees to work remotely sends a number of positive messages. For starters, it shows that you trust them to efficiently manage their time without supervisors breathing down their backs. As long as deadlines continue to be met and work on various projects proceeds at a steady clip, employees shouldn’t be required to spend a set number of hours at the office each day. Secondly, embracing remote work shows employees that you have respect for their individual schedules and personal lives and see them as more than worker drones.
Getting behind remote work can also do wonders for your worker retention levels. Since many members of the workforce would sooner quit their current jobs than return to the office, it’s become very obvious that the old way of doing things is no longer acceptable to a large number of workers.
A Lack of Regard for Employee Feedback
Not only should employees be openly encouraged to share their opinions at every opportunity, their feedback should also be acted upon in a timely manner. Showing your team members that their opinions are valued can be a great way to make your workforce feel heard and keep your worker retention rates steady. By extension, take care to provide your employees with plenty of appreciation and encouragement with a good employee recognition platform.
Low worker retention rates are generally an indicator of low worker contentment. So, if your business has developed a reputation for regarding employee satisfaction as unimportant, it’s only natural that talented team members would start pursuing other opportunities. Given how much damage low worker retention can do to a business, it’s in your best interest to get less-than-ideal retention rates under control. To this end, make a point of avoiding the behaviors discussed above.