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>Retaining Employees / Supporting Employees
Encourage your employees to stay with your business by offering them working arrangements that allow them to maintain a healthy balance in their work and personal lives. It makes sense to keep good employees as they’re difficult (and expensive) to replace.
It’s easier to get employees to stay if you know what might tempt them to leave. You can gather this information using employee attitude surveys.
 Checklist |
This checklist summarises key information about retaining and supporting employees. |
Every time you lose someone it costs you time and money. You also lose that person’s knowledge and skills. When you add up the costs of lost productivity, recruitment, induction, training and development, you’ll see that there are many good reasons to find ways to keep them working for you.
The following table describes factors that may influence employees to stay with their employer.
There are several reasons why an employee might decide to leave their employer:
poor management
unsatisfactory remuneration
issues with immediate supervisors
limited work-life balance
unmet expectations.
Workforce turnover is the measurement of how many people leave the workplace (voluntarily and involuntarily) over a certain period. Regular monitoring of workforce turnover can highlight the cause behind the turnover and enable you to forecast it and plan for it. When you work out how much it costs your business when you lose employees you’ll realise that it can make good sense to invest in some employee retention strategies.
 Template |
This template assists in calculating your turnover rate and the associated cost. |
Your employees are more likely to stay with your business if they are highly committed and engaged with their work and you as an employer.
Engaged employees are:
more creative and enthusiastic
display initiative when dealing with customers and other stakeholders
absent less often
less likely to leave the business.
Many businesses try to achieve higher levels of employee engagement through effective communication, encouraging contribution and recognising performance.
For more information see:
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Hewitt Associates’ Best Employer |
Employers of choice are those that offer initiatives that are valued by employees. They attract more jobseekers and have lower turnover rates compared to other businesses.
Initiatives offered by the Tasmanian Department of Economic Development and Tourism’s Employer of Choice finalists of 2007 include:
attractive salary packaging options
flexible work options and hours
additional paid personal leave
employee health and wellbeing initiatives
leadership development programs and mentoring or coaching programs
training and personal development opportunities
recognition
supporting events in the community
fun social events.
For more information see:
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Economic Development and Tourism’s employer of choice awards |
Employees are better able to balance their work and personal interests and responsibilities when they have some choice over how, when and where they work.
Businesses who offer flexible workplace arrangements benefit by:
attracting talented employees
improved employee retention
increased commitment
improved productivity
improved client service
keeping knowledge in the workplace.
Their employees benefit from:
improved motivation
increased job satisfaction
reduced stress levels
improved work-life balance
increased flexibility to undertake personal responsibilities or activities
increased trust between manager and employee.
Flexible work arrangements may include:
part-time work and/or job sharing
paid parental leave
flexible working hours
additional annual leave
rostered days off
working from home
time off in lieu
study leave
leave-without-pay provisions
child care provisions
phased retirement.
>Retaining Employees / Supporting Employees
* (Stretton, R 2000, ‘Mind the gap’, HR Monthly, Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI), October, pp. 54–55.)
* (Hooper, D 2007, ‘Getting better all the time’, HR Monthly, Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI), May, pp. 40–41.)
