Nurturing Growth, Anchoring Retention
It’s no secret that most organizations struggle with turnover and would like to improve employee retention. According to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3.8 million employees left their job voluntarily in June 2023.
That’s a lot of valuable employees walking away – so how do you stop it from happening to you? To demystify the situation a little, let’s approach it like this. Think of a tree and its roots. The stability of the tree is only as strong as its root system. If the tree does not have deep roots, it is more susceptible to falling over by the smallest nudge, whereas a tree with a deep established root system can withstand much stronger nudges.
Higher employee engagement helps develop and strengthen an employee’s stability to the nudges that can occur within their job. An employee who feels connected, appreciated, and rooted in the company culture will be much more likely to stick around. So how do you help your employee put down roots?
Company Mission can Drive Engagement
First things first, you want to do is make sure you have a solid company mission or shared goal that everyone is working towards. When the company’s mission is clear and you’re transparent from the beginning of the hiring process, you’re more likely to attract employees and candidates that are already aligned with that mission. When aligned from the start, it leads to a higher likelihood of them putting down roots quickly.
Make sure your employees not only understand what the company mission is but also how their individual roles and responsibilities contribute to it. Mention it often and provide examples of how it can be integrated into their work. When your employees believe in and are excited to work toward fulfilling the mission, you have the beginnings of established roots right there.
Improve Work Culture
A strong root system doesn’t exist solely because of the mission, though. The entire workplace experience contributes to whether or not an employee feels at home and is willing to stick around. That’s why it’s so important to invest in a long-lasting culture. The more involved and collaborative an employee can be with their team, the more attached they will feel to the work and your organization as a whole. As a result of this, you will see less voluntary turnover and start on improving employee retention.
Encourage managers to engage in team-building activities to help these interpersonal relationships flourish. Whether through ice-breaker games, trust exercises, or informal gatherings. Prioritizing these connections fosters deeper bonds among employees. While passion for the work is vital, nurturing a unified team that values personal relationships provides added reasons for employees to stay rooted.
Use Employee Feedback as a Tool
Why guess what’s best for your team? Discover what’s working, what needs tweaking, and what requires an overhaul. To truly deepen employee roots and loyalty, simply ask them!
Building a culture that incorporates feedback from employees on a regular basis is a great way to do that. Incorporating surveys in the workplace creates an outlet for them to express and share their thoughts with leadership. This feedback is exactly where you can find answers to questions like, “What initiatives are really working?” or “What areas need to be improved?”. Providing an opportunity for employees to speak their minds helps them feel like their opinions and concerns have the ability to truly make an impact on the overall company culture when and where appropriate. The most important piece here is to actually act on the feedback they give you. If you ask but don’t acknowledge the opportunity areas they pointed out, then they are going to feel ignored, and it will be counterproductive.
Engagement Surveys can Improve Retention
Engagement surveys are a streamlined and popular way to create a consistent and confidential feedback loop within your organization. At People Element, we have noted that when organizations are asked what they want to accomplish with engagement surveys, the most common answer is that they want to learn how to best improve employee retention.
The answer is different for each workplace. It may vary based on industry, size, goals, and the people. This is why we come back to the same idea – you must ask your team what can help create a culture that fosters deep and strong root systems for them. Those exact metrics may seem difficult to pin down, but a well-executed engagement survey administered to employees regularly can help you find the key elements. By consistently tracking results, you can identify important drivers of retention for your company and see if they change over time. This allows you to create a dynamic culture that adapts to keep employees engaged without sacrificing the core elements of your mission.
If you want to learn more about the role engagement surveys can play in increasing your retention and employee satisfaction, explore our all-inclusive survey tool. We’ve helped empower numerous companies to revolutionize their employee engagement. Let us help make yours a standout place to work! Contact us TODAY!
