How to improve employee engagement & retention


Mon 06 Mar 2023

Employee engagement and retention is vital to reduce employee turnover. Employee turnover can have a negative impact on an organisation’s performance. Employers may minimise turnover and boost employee retention by understanding the causes of employee turnover.

To improve your knowledge of handling employee engagement and retaining employees, MOL Learn offer Human Resources courses and qualifications. These courses provide you with knowledge to upskill Human Resources colleagues through being taught by industry experts who use a wealth of HR experience to bring your learning to life. These HR courses encourage you to apply theory and models to your own workplace, meaning you can add immediate value at work by applying your learning directly to your role.

Improve Employee Work-Life Balance

Employees do not wish to devote their whole waking hours to work: To retain people, you must recognise and encourage work-life balance. Some people would rather take a wage loss to work a less stressful job than continue in a job with no downtime.

Examine workloads to ensure that everyone has an acceptable amount of work each day while yet allowing for personal time. Train managers to keep a closer eye on workloads and to recognise when their team members are overburdened.

Much of this boils down to basic communication. When managers and team leaders communicate with their employees on a regular basis, they will be able to identify when someone is unsatisfied with their workload or is on the verge of burnout. Having these discussions far in advance of deadlines allows you to change timetables with minimum impact to your deliveries.

Provide the Tools and Training Your Team Needs to Succeed

Employee training is essential for engaging and retaining your team. Nobody likes to be handed a task without the resources they require to do it. Employees are unlikely to stay if they believe you are setting them up for failure. Employees who have a better knowledge of what they're doing — and the tools they need to complete it — can focus more readily and get the job done.

Make sure all managers are aware of the training materials available for each job on their team. When an employee indicates a need for extra tools or resources to execute their work, supervisors should be able to rapidly assist them in locating the appropriate training programmes. Of course, not every employee will be as forthcoming about their requirements – or even be aware of them. Managers must differentiate between bad performance and when an employee does not feel prepared to perform at a high level due to lack of training or tools.

MOL Learn offer a wide variety of training courses across different industries to improve employee’s knowledge and skill level, increase workplace competency and allow for increased productivity within the business.

Implement Continuous Positive Feedback

Employees yearn for feedback. Employees require constant recognition and instruction to be satisfied with their jobs. Continuous feedback on employee strengths may provide a line of communication with management, allowing workers to stay interested in their job.

Nonetheless, according to the data, two-thirds of workers do not receive one-on-one feedback and coaching from their direct boss more than twice each year. Team members may feel lost and alienated if they do not receive frequent feedback on how they are functioning. Employees will feel underappreciated if they only hear from supervisors when they do something wrong.

It’s important to train managers to give employees recognition and feedback in the flow of work. Help them understand the purpose of providing feedback to employees and the importance of keeping that feedback constructive and positive. Provide resources to help managers talk about future-oriented performance topics and not get caught up in task details.

Challenge Your Team 

Employees must be challenged in order to stay involved in their work: if they perform the same thing every day for years, they will eventually lose interest. Give workers opportunity to overcome important obstacles in their daily job.

These obstacles should be beneficial rather than harmful. Solving a corporate problem or giving staff more responsibility are two examples. Job-related difficulties, such as assigning a project to an employee on the leadership track, can assist them to advance along their preferred professional development path.

Allow for Flexible Work Arrangements

Employees require flexibility to work when, where, and how they work best, in addition to work-life balance. This is especially true for caregivers, who must balance the requirements of their families with the responsibilities of their work. If your firm does not provide flexible work arrangements, these employees will often leave for one that does.

Employees are more likely to be loyal to your firm when they have the freedom to fit work into their lives rather than work dictating their lives. Organise workloads and deadlines so that employees can work the hours that are most convenient for them.

Encourage Creativity and Innovation

Don't foster a workplace culture that promotes uniformity. Employees in the workplace must be able to express themselves and their thoughts. Employees are more likely to get involved in their job when they have the flexibility to offer their thoughts without fear of rejection or condemnation.

Encourage employees to develop new ideas and innovations, particularly those related to their regular tasks. Allow employees to communicate their ideas with co-workers and corporate executives by providing ways for them to do so. Creating a culture in which workers feel comfortable experimenting and recommending improvements can help you retain people who have something to offer.

Prioritise Company Culture and Connection

Your retention strategy will be made or broken by the culture of your company. Employee retention will increase if they feel welcomed and incorporated into your company culture. However, if they believe that your culture is negative, they are more likely to depart.

A healthy corporate culture will assist you in attracting and retaining top employees. However, be honest about what your culture is truly like. Employees are in the heart of it, and they may immediately detect a disconnect between how you market your culture and how it is. This kind of imbalance can erode employee trust. 

When reviewing and developing culture, get employee feedback to ensure you are developing it in a way that actually benefits employees. Connection is an incredibly vital component of culture, and it must be intentionally fostered – especially in hybrid and distant situations. Employee engagement and loyalty will increase when they feel linked to one another, their leaders, and the company.

View our range of Human Resources and Learning & Development training courses or call our Qualifications Advisors today on 03452 032 103 to find the right path for your career.

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