Boost Employee Retention: Innovative Strategies to Lower Turnover Ratio and Improve Retention Rates

You can gauge any company’s culture by looking at its employee retention rate. Yet a “healthy” turnover rate varies significantly across industries and even one company’s diverse departments, like the cost of turnover.

The chances of an employee remaining with a company decreases significantly over time. A recent analysis of 32 million LinkedIn profiles revealed a startling statistic: There’s only a 76 percent chance of an employee still being at a company 12 months after starting, a 59 percent likelihood after two years, and a 48 percent chance after three years. This highlights the importance of employee retention metrics as crucial for HR departments.

Another intriguing finding shows that employees transitioning roles internally — laterally or through promotion — are more likely to stay within their current company. Tracking such internal mobility trends can be instrumental in understanding how to stimulate employee growth and improve retention.

An integral component of any organization’s human resource strategy should be understanding and managing the turnover ratio, particularly focusing on boosting the retention rate. An efficient approach isn’t about reaching an arbitrary number but interpreting turnover as a reflection of workplace culture, leadership effectiveness, and other essential aspects. Let’s explore.

How Turnover Impacts Business

Over the last decade, overall turnover in the US has consistently increased: the total separations rate in 2018 was 44.3 percent — up a whole percentage point from 2017. With the cost of backfilling roles estimated at 20 percent of that position’s salary and 40 percent of total separations occurring within an employee’s first year, it’s no surprise that business leaders are eager to curb turnover by any means necessary.

While turnover is an organic part of running any business, it can be potentially damaging. There’s no way to completely prevent any employee’s separation, but savvy leaders and HR teams know that mitigating unnecessary departures requires a close, innovation-minded look at overall workplace culture. The new wave of employee retention is all about diversity, happiness, flexibility, and benefits — but you need to know where you stand to know what you need here.

Vital HR Metrics: Retention Rate, Turnover Ratio, Mobility Trends

Essential HR metrics form the core of understanding your organization’s health and effectiveness. Some tools can assist HR professionals in tracking essential metrics like employee turnover ratio, manager effectiveness, and internal mobility trends.

Critical practices for managing retention rate include:

• Keeping track of vital HR metrics.
• Setting retention goals.
• Consistently monitoring progress against targets.

This type of data tracking can provide insights into different departments and managers, offering a comparative view of overall organizational health.

Practical Steps for Minimizing Unwanted Turnover

Make the process of reducing unwanted turnover and improving employee retention actionable through some practical strategies:

1. Implementing Smart Recruiting Practices: Retention starts with recruiting, as many of the world’s biggest and most valuable companies have already realized. Implementing smart interviewing and hiring practices helps curb unnecessary turnover. This involves fine-tuning your hiring process to attract and select suitable candidates who are both qualified and culturally fit for your organization. With OrgChart, you can visualize your current team structure, identify gaps, and prioritize the roles you need to recruit. This ensures that new hires are brought into roles where they can thrive, reducing the chances of premature turnover.
2. Offering Unique Employee Benefits: Companies are getting increasingly creative with employee benefits beyond paid holidays and good health insurance options. Think transportation assistance (like subsidized bus passes and indoor bike parking), subsidized c, and support for continued education. Beyond the basic compensation package, providing unique and personalized benefits can significantly enhance employee satisfaction and loyalty. OrgChart allows HR teams to track and analyze employee engagement and feedback, helping identify the most effective benefits of boosting retention.
3. Cultivating a Healthy Workplace Culture: Workplace culture is more important than ever — and it doesn’t mean office parties and ping-pong tables. A positive workplace culture can significantly increase employee satisfaction and retention. OrgChart helps HR professionals visualize team dynamics, manager effectiveness, and workplace culture. This data can be instrumental in identifying areas of improvement to foster a positive, inclusive, and thriving workplace culture. Fundamental, change-making cultural shifts include allowing workplace and schedule flexibility, focusing on diversity and inclusion, and driving a culture of appreciation and communication.
4. Encouraging Career Advancement and Mobility: Employees are more likely to stay with a company if they see opportunities for growth and advancement. OrgChart’s comprehensive view of your organization can help identify potential paths for employee career advancement, keeping your team members engaged, motivated, and loyal to your organization. Refraining from encouraging or even allowing for the internal movement of employees is a recipe for disaster.
5. Carrying Out Exit Interviews and Proactive “Stay Conversations”: While exit interviews are an indispensable source of information regarding separation, many employers are implementing proactive “stay conversations” to bolster retention. Exit interviews offer insights into why employees are leaving, while “stay conversations” allow you to address concerns before they lead to turnover. Why do quality employees feel at home at your company, what’s working or not, and what are their challenges? Listen and take action before issues become insurmountable. With OrgChart, you can keep track of key metrics and feedback from these conversations, helping you understand and address issues before they lead to turnover.
6. Graciously Accepting Inevitable Employee Departures: No matter how great your workplace is, some turnover is inevitable. Accepting this fact graciously and ensuring a smooth transition for departing employees can leave the door open for potential returns in the future and maintain a positive brand image. With OrgChart, you can visualize and manage these transitions effectively, supporting a healthy, dynamic organization despite changes.

Use OrgChart to Monitor Turnover and Increase Employee Retention

In an era where data-driven insights drive strategic business decisions, HR professionals leverage these insights to ensure organizational health. This requires an accurate understanding of the organization’s current state and a clear vision for its future.

OrgChart, a comprehensive tool for HR professionals, combines all your people data in one place, allowing you to track the metrics you care about most and quickly spot gaps. OrgChart’s customizable charts ensure you have the information you need when you need it, allowing for efficient and effective workforce planning.

This revolutionary tool helps you visualize your organization’s current and future states, allowing you to align your organizational structure with strategic goals and prepare for significant people-related changes. Furthermore, with OrgChart, you can automate workforce planning, optimize workforce visibility, and ensure utmost data security while enabling customization to suit your organization’s unique needs.

Beyond a visual representation of your organization, OrgChart offers insights enabling you to drive business conversations across various topics. It allows you to create custom formulas to track key metrics and develop data-driven presentations highlighting trends and gaps. With OrgChart, you can also automatically archive the current state of your organization and revisit it at any point, ensuring that historical data is never lost.

Harness the power of OrgChart and unlock the potential of your organization. OrgChart equips you with the insights and tools to retain top talent, reduce turnover, and foster a positive workplace culture by elevating your workforce planning to new heights.

Take the first step toward revolutionizing your HR strategies. Request a quote today and experience the transformative impact OrgChart can have on your organization.