Retaining employees is becoming more difficult in the current competitive landscape thanks in part to an ongoing labour shortage in Canada. Lots of employers are stepping up their employee retention strategies and encouraging current employees to upskill. Read on to learn about some of our HR experts’ best employee retention strategies for employers.

What is retention?

Employee retention is an organization’s ability to keep its workers and ensure sustainability. It involves the methods and strategies employers use to discourage employees from resigning to seek employment elsewhere.

Why are employee retention strategies important?

There are many benefits of having a high employee retention rate. These include:

Lower operational costs for things like training and onboarding;
Improved workforce morale;
Increased efficiency and productivity;
A better customer experience; and
Development of experienced teams.

Ultimately, the ability to retain employees increases your company’s productivity, freeing up time and reducing costs. You’ll have a more experienced group of employees who know and understand your business and its customers better than anyone.

Employee retention strategies for employers

Let’s explore some of the most popular retention strategies for employers that could benefit your organization.

Competitive salaries

One of the biggest retention strategies for employers to use is offering a competitive salary or wage to their employees. It’s crucial to make your employees feel valued and respected, because this support is likely what will encourage them to remain at your company.

Research what competitors in your location and industry are offering applicants and employees. With a growing trend towards pay transparency in Canada, finding out what a comparable wage is for a position has never been easier.

Employee benefits

Company benefits and incentives are great ways to retain employees. There are a range of employee benefits that employers can offer as retention strategies, including services or additional holiday benefits. Some common employee benefits that can be presented as retention ideas for employers include:

Health insurance;
Dental coverage;
Vision coverage;
Life insurance;
Mental health and wellbeing support;
Gym membership;
Paid day off on (or near) an employee’s birthday;
Pay for travel expenses;
Employee discounts;
Company equipment; and
Investment opportunities in company shares.

Flexible working

Flexible working is extremely common among many companies. This could include flexible working hours and working location. For example, employees can start work between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., which can greatly support parents who need to drop off their children at school or daycare.

A flexible working location means your employees can work from home. Again, this is great for supporting childcare, but it can also mean that you can employ people from farther afield, increasing your perimeter for finding talent. Here are some benefits of flexible working for your employees:

Healthy work–life balance;
Less commuting;
Increased positivity; and
Reduced stress.

Staff rewards

Rewarding your employees for their outstanding work is one of the most widely used employee retention strategies. Things like employee-of-the-month awards are examples you’ve probably heard of, but you could also reward them for hitting targets, putting in extra effort, and more. These rewards help boost confidence and show staff that you appreciate and recognize their contributions.

Some popular staff reward examples as employee retention strategies:

Gift cards;
Other financial rewards;
Paid time off; and
Non-monetary gifts.

Build a positive workplace culture

Crafting a positive team that supports each other and works together is the perfect recipe for increasing employee retention. As well as the actual job an employee has to carry out, their working environment and co-workers can have a major effect on whether they remain at a company or not.

A workplace where employees feel comfortable, supported, and positive, encourages them to stay for the fantastic working environment and professional relationships.

Tackle employee burnout

Tackling employee burnout should always be a priority. When we talk about burnout, it doesn’t only mean that staff need to take time off. Burnout is much more than that. It’s about workload and other factors like unclear communication and unreachable goals. When employees understand exactly what task is at hand, are given suitable time to complete it, and don’t have a list of other tasks that they’re worried about getting done on time, they are more relaxed and will enjoy their work more.

Upskill your employees

Show employees that your organization is committed to personal development with training. Motivated employees apply for jobs at your organization with the hope of growing into a better professional. You can support that by upskilling them and investing time and resources into their professional development. As well as improving retention, it’ll also strengthen your company by developing more knowledgeable employees.

Get employee retention strategies and advice from HRdownloads

These retention ideas for employers are just some of the ways to show your employees that you support and value them. By incorporating some of these into your retention and recruitment strategies, you can see big improvements.

Streamline your HR processes with HRdownloads’ customizable human resources information system (HRIS). From onboarding and employee assignments to policy updates, our user-friendly platform ensures efficiency and compliance, allowing you to focus on what matters most: your team’s success.

We also provide tailored solutions covering HR software, HR content, and HR support, with over 3,000 accessible HR documents, templates, compliance resources, and more!