How to improve employee ‘retention’ in the company

The experience of the pandemic, the possibility of remote working, have made the difficulty of retaining employees in the company under the usual working conditions increasingly pressing.

The effects of the American ‘Great Resignation’, although to a lesser extent, are also occurring in Europe.
Today, people are no longer willing to compromise on important issues such as flexibility and work-life balance. The increasingly widespread use of the Internet has made it accessible to everyone what alternative career opportunities and salaries can be.

The resignation of an employee often comes unexpectedly to the HR department and is often the result of long-standing dissatisfaction and problems. It is advisable to prevent such phenomena with STAY INTERVIEWS at least every six months. These meetings serve to investigate the level of satisfaction in the company and to bring to light any critical issues.

Questions should be asked such as:
What do you expect from your career, does the workload you are subjected to seem proportionate, do you feel your contribution is adequately appreciated, what are your reasons for staying in the company?

In order to obtain sincere answers, it is always better not to follow a rigid pattern, rather, to activate a spontaneous, empathic conversation.
This can lead to a relationship of trust and cooperation with all employees. Problems that arise during interviews must be tackled resolutely.

The state of emergency generated by the Covid pandemic allowed companies to act in derogation of agile working regulations; almost all workers during the ‘lockdown’ carried out their activities from home.
Once the toughest phase of the pandemic was over, companies behaved differently: some pushed for a return to headquarters, some maintained full-time remote working, and some gave employees freedom of choice.

With the end of the pandemic, companies had to make final decisions. The renunciation of rigid strategies seems all the more appropriate in order to avoid drops in motivation and new resignations.
Flexible arrangements involving alternating office and home work are certainly an effective ATTRACTION and RETENTION tool.

In a medium-sized to large company, internal mobility offers considerable advantages to both itself and its employees:

• company search and selection costs are lowered;
• employees have the opportunity to access new jobs, acquire new skills and develop a career path within the same company.

All this can be simplified by technology: the latest generation of ATS (application tracking systems) allow employees to publish and share open positions with their own employees, and for them to apply quickly and easily.

These tools facilitate the transparency of selection processes by preventing favouritism.

A good training offer positively influences both the attractiveness of the company in the selection phase and the ‘retention’ of its employees.

Also, in this case, it is advisable to make use of dedicated software – LMS (learning management system) which facilitate the organization, guarantee transparency and interactivity of the training process.

Companies that have cleverly introduced hybrid working are increasingly moving towards agile employee management based on objectives and greater autonomy.
Management by objectives (management by objectives – MBO) is a now widespread methodology, but one that must not ignore certain essential principles.

The MBO must be shared by employees so that it is not perceived as an imposition, but as an improvement in the quality of work.
It is also important to set not only individual, but team or company goals that foster collaboration.

Use innovative evaluation software that is accessible to both managers and employees. Pay out BONUSES proportionate to individual, team and company achievements.
It is now clear what people look for and prioritize when assessing professional realities.

The tools to better manage this new era of the labor market are all there, so it is impossible for companies not to take them into account in order to be competitive and successful.