Employee Retention through Engagement

For an organization to succeed and sustain, it is vital that high-potential employees retain and contribute effectively (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton, 2015). Employees who devote a significant amount of time to the organization are more loyal and committed to the management, and always make decisions in favor of the organization. For an instance, a recruit might have little or no attachment with the team at first, but as the relations mature, they develop loyalty and trust. The longer employee serves the organization, the stronger they feel emotionally attached and work diligently to promote the brand image of the organization (Kular, Gatenby, Rees, Soane, and Truss, 2008). According to research, successful organizations in the future will be those that adapt their organizational behavior to the realities of the current work environment with a strong workforce, where longevity and success are dependent on innovation, creativity, and flexibility (Kreisman, 2002).

Based on research done by Phillips and Connel (2003), Employee retention refers to the various policies and practices that allow employees to stay with the organization for an extended period. It is also defined as an increase in the percentage of employees who are committed to the organization. Every organization invests time and money in grooming a new hire, making corporate-ready material, and bringing up to speed with the existing employees. Losing a well-trained employee is a very costly state for the enterprise, hence employers make all endeavors to keep an individual in the organization for the longest period possible (Kyndt, Dochy, Michielsen and Moeyaert, 2009). Employee retention has emerged as a major concern for businesses in the current climate (Davis, 2015). When a talented employee expresses a desire to leave, it is the responsibility of management and the HR team to intervene immediately, determine the reasons for the decision, and use strategies to retain well-trained employees (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton-Jones, 2015).

Why do employees leave? It is the responsibility of both line managers and leaders to ensure that employees are satisfied with their roles and responsibilities and that the job provides them with new challenges and opportunities for learning (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton-Jones, 2015). Akinyomi, (2016) explains that most employees leave an organization due to frustration and constant conflict with their superiors or other team members. In some cases, low salary, a lack of growth opportunities, and a lack of motivation force an employee to look for a new job (Akinyomi, 2016). Owing to this fact, management must be responsible for safeguarding the effective contributors who are important to the system. Employee retention skills can greatly influence motivating employees and appreciating their work to avoid turnover (James and Mathew, 2012)

Need & Importance of Employee Retention

Management must understand the distinction between a Valuable employee and a Disengaged employee. Sincere efforts must be made to encourage employees to remain satisfied with their current organization and not seek a change. Employee retention strategies are important to an organization because,

• Hiring the right candidates is a time-consuming and a costly process
• Organizations invest time and money to nurture individuals and prepare them to work in their respective corporate cultures. 
• When a trained employee resigns from his current organization, they are more likely to join the competitors. 
• Employees who have been with the company for a longer period are more familiar with its policies and guidelines, and thus adjust better: 
• Individuals who stay in the organization for a long time have been observed to be more loyal to management and the organization. 

(Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton-Jones, 2015)

The management cannot completely prevent employees from quitting their jobs, but it can be controlled to a larger extent. Retention practices emerge in all areas of HR, and all roles within an organization must collaborate to develop and implement multifaceted retention strategies. Depending on the circumstances, broad-based and targeted strategies, or a combination of the two, may be implemented. (SHRM)

Video 1.0 describes that having effective employee retention strategies is the first step in creating a highly engaged workplace. To keep talented and skilled employees, the organization's goal is employee retention, where organizations should take every step to nurture and engage the talent to keep the employees from leaving.

Video 1.0 : Employee Retention Strategies

Source : Vantage Circle, 2020

Effective Employee Retention strategies

• Employee recognition and performance appraisals are the most effective factors that contribute to employee retention. Their efforts must be recognized, thus providing feedback is essential. They will be aware of areas of high performance as well as specific skills that require development (Tessema, Ready and Embaye, 2013)

• Responsibilities must be assigned based on the individual's specialization and interests. It is the team leader's responsibility to assign challenging work to his team followed by performance reviews established for determining to understand if employees are satisfied with the working culture (Sandhya and Kumar, 2011)

• Conflicts must be avoided to maintain the decorum of the venue and to avoid spreading negativity. Individuals who have dependable coworkers are hesitant to move on for the sake of strong relationships.

• The human resources department must ensure that the right candidate is hired. Frustration arises when there is a mismatch. Monetary benefits such as incentives, perks, and cash prizes are highly motivating for employees and these terms should be discussed during the hiring process (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton-Jones, 2015) 

• The rules and regulations of the company should be designed to benefit and should be accommodating to employees. Management must understand their employees to gain their trust and confidence (Kreisman, 2002)

Employee Retention through Employee Engagement

When employees are content with the job, they would never consider quitting yet gladly accepts responsibilities with hopes to remain with the organization for a long time (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton-Jones, 2015) Lack of challenging work is a primary reason for an employee's decision to leave, hence employees should be assigned responsibilities based on their specialization and background enabling the individuals to perform well (Sandhya and Kumar, 2011) In order to remain in the organization, an employer must ensure a brighter career path, monetary benefits, and opportunities for growth (Sandhya and Kumar, 2011).

The team leaders must monitor the performance of the team members to determine whether they are satisfied with their profile (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill and Pemberton-Jones, 2015) Performance appraisals are necessary to ensure that every employee enjoys the job, and in turn to determine growth in career and the organization. Discussions are necessary for the workplace, and everyone should be free to express their views in an open forum (Kular, Gatenby, Rees, Soane, and Truss, 2008) Allow people to decide for themselves how and what they can do best. Employees are thus satisfied with their jobs and are unlikely to seek a change.

References

• Akinyomi, O.J., 2016. Labour turnover: Causes, consequences and prevention. Fountain University Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 5(1), pp.105-112.

• Cloutier, O., Felusiak, L., Hill, C. and Pemberton-Jones, E.J., 2015. The importance of developing strategies for employee retention. Journal of Leadership, Accountability & Ethics, 12(2).

• Davis, P.J. (2015), "Implementing an employee career-development strategy: How to build commitment and retain employees", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 28-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-05-2015-0066

• SHRM [Online]. Available at   https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingforemployeeretention.aspx [Accessed on 29th April 2022]

• James, L. and Mathew, L., 2012. Employee retention strategies: IT industry. SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 9(3), p.79.

• Kaye, B. and Jordan-Evans, S., 2000. Retention: Tag, you're it!. Training and development-Alexandria-American society for training and development, 54(4), pp.29-39.

• Kreisman, B.J., 2002. Insights into employee motivation, commitment and retention. Business Training Experts: Leadership Journal, pp.1-24.

• Kular, S., Gatenby, M., Rees, C., Soane, E. and Truss, K., 2008. Employee engagement: A literature review.

• Kyndt, E., Dochy, F., Michielsen, M. and Moeyaert, B., 2009. Employee retention: Organisational and personal perspectives. Vocations and Learning, 2(3), pp.195-215.

• Phillips, J.J. and Connell, A.O., 2003. Managing employee retention: a strategic accountability approach. Routledge.

• Sandhya, K. and Kumar, D.P., 2011. Employee retention by motivation. Indian Journal of science and technology, 4(12), pp.1778-1782.

• Tessema, M.T., Ready, K.J. and Embaye, A.B., 2013. The effects of employee recognition, pay, and benefits on job satisfaction: Cross country evidence. Journal of Business and Economics, 4(1), pp.1-12.

• Vantage Circle, (2020) Employee Retention Strategies [Online]. Available at https://youtu.be/z42UZpE5jys [Accessed on 29th April 2022]