A strong retention rate is an indicator of a healthy organization. VP of People and Talent for ChartHop, Emily Connery, discusses new tools and initiatives HR leaders should adopt to develop an employee retention strategy.
Retention Rate: A Core HR Metric
The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime. So it’s safe to say finding happiness and satisfaction is critical, especially when most employees report that their work defines their sense of purpose. Organizations must make sure they’re doing everything to engage, challenge, and grow their employees — or risk turnover.
Over 75% of HR leaders reported higher employee turnover in the past year. Yet despite this high statistic, 61% haven’t begun to develop an employee retention strategy.
Retention rate is a core HR metric because it says a great deal about what employees think about an organization. Companies prioritizing employee retention typically:
- Experience rapid business growth.
- Record higher
- Build attractive employer brands.
To improve retention rates organization-wide and reap those benefits, HR leaders need to adapt to the needs of modern workers by adopting new tools and building a strong diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) program.
Creating a powerful retention strategy
A strong retention strategy involves constant monitoring, which you can more easily achieve with the help of new tools and technology. A people analytics solution calculates employee retention rates and tracks trends over time. This type of automation helps gauge the effectiveness of your organization’s strategy while aggregating all necessary data and historical information without the hassle of spreadsheets.
When tracked and used correctly, retention rates provide the insight to create positive change in your company. Here are three recommendations to elevate your retention efforts.
Align your values to your people
People are the backbone of a company.
Organizations need to create a culture where employees feel appreciated.
Define your values and embed them into everything you do — from operations management to marketing and finance. Let’s face it — if a company doesn’t focus on the employee experience, people will leave. Employees no longer prioritize perks like free food or comfortable lounges. They want an organization that listens, takes action on their feedback, and values their wellbeing.
Amplify your DEIB efforts
Not only do employees want to feel valued, but they want to work for a company that embodies inclusivity and equitable growth opportunities. Over 80% of business executives say a lack of focus on DEIB contributes to employee turnover.
To celebrate diversity and inclusion in your company, make changes starting from the top. Educate the C-suite about why diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are critical to business outcomes. Then, identify how to connect DEIB to the employee experience. For example, use training to build a safe and equitable workplace by educating employees to be more aware of cultural and personal differences. The impact of these DEIB efforts takes time. To start, consider mapping employee journeys to see how employees engage with milestones along the employee experience and compare the experiences across different groups.
Promote pay transparency
Increased pay transparency can also encourage employees to stay with a company. In fact, 58% of employees would consider switching jobs for increased pay transparency. This visibility enables employees to hold companies accountable to any pay disparities.
While you could create transparency by listing each employee’s salary on your intranet, that’s not the only way to go. However, you can still create a transparent culture by establishing set ranges for compensation bands based on role and level. Use a people analytics solution both to share those ranges with employees and include them in future job postings. Most importantly, this transparency creates a more equitable environment by standardizing pay based on set criteria.
A strong retention rate and steps toward positive change are indicators of a healthy organization. In fact, it provides a solid foundation on which to grow your organization long-term. You will retain top performers and position your company to attract new, high-quality talent in the future.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Connery
Emily Connery, Vice President of People & Talent at ChartHop
Emily Connery is the Vice President of People & Talent at ChartHop. She is a creative and adaptive Human Resources leader with 10 years of diverse experience in both early-stage startups and large corporate environments. She has a proven track record of success in driving organizational effectiveness and coaching managers to attract and retain top talent while positively impacting the bottom line.