Leadership and Employee Retention

“A brand is defined by the customer’s experience. The experience is delivered by the employees- Shep Hyken”

So, for employees to deliver a great customer experience, need to be guided in a special way. This is where Leaders play an important role.

The difference between a manager and a leader is huge!!

Leaders aren’t just authorizing professionals or administrators; but they are the paragons. Leaders don’t just manage their employees; they inspire them. They don’t just do their jobs; they take care of their organization, their employees, and the customer. They mentor those who need help and those who have potential. They’re the kind of people we look up to.

Becoming a person like that doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and humility to become the kind of person who’s trustworthy, respectable, and admirable. 

It’s the Leaders who will help the organization retain their valuable employees. They need to guide the Leadership segment of the Human Resources team to be successful in employee retention.

Employee retention is one of the key factors for success of an organization. There are several policies followed by organisations globally, but we need to follow certain golden rules for retention of the most important asset of a company i.e., its employees.

The first 3 months of employment are critical for both the employee and employer. The new joiners want to prove themselves and make a good impression. At the same time, as an employer or manager, we want to get our new employees up to speed quickly and help them feel secure in their role and place in the company.

So, the employee onboarding program or strategy can be a make-or-break factor for retaining employees. Around 40% of employee turnover occurs within the employee’s first year with the organization, and their replacement can cost one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.

If the onboarding process of the company is effective, studies have shown that it can increase retention rates by 50% among new recruits and productivity of the existing employees increases by 62%.

Following are some of the key employee onboarding strategies to increase the retention metrics:

Firstly, create a warm welcome environment for the new employee:

We can use the time between the offer letter offered to the new joiner and the first day of work to make the employee feel welcomed and reaffirm their decision to work with the organization.

An email covering “what to expect” two days ahead of their first day can be shared with the new joiner. This is a great time to communicate structure and confidence, clarify what they’ll need for their first day, and share any other crucial last-minute information.

We need to assign a designated person greet the new joiner either in-person or virtually via a video call or a message.

Make the new employee feel a part of the team with company swag like t-shirts, stickers, diaries etc. Make sure they have access to necessary tools and technology to show that you’re prepared for them to be there. Also create an agenda for the first week with key meetings, training, and calendar invites.

Things to remember when employee completes 1 month at the office:

We need to send our new joiner a survey about their 30-day onboarding process, so we can further learn from their experience. Even if we don’t currently have a designated onboarding program, a survey will help us to see what worked well and what needs improvement—which can help us build a proper formal process.

Improve employee retention by encouraging meaningful connections and relationships:

Building workplace connections is of prime importance and it should start as soon as a new employee accepts their employment offer. But even the organization needs to continue to support employees in creating these connections throughout their tenure at the company.

We can do this with the help of a buddy system to build connections with the new hire and the employees around them. We can plan face to face sessions with both immediate and cross-functional teammates to create relationships early. Also, encouragement of new employees is necessary to attend company events and gatherings. We should also make time for non-work conversation during team meetings. This can lay the groundwork for deeper conversations and connections later.

Emphasizing role clarity in the first 3 months of employment should be of top priority as the employees will be taking in a lot of information in the early days, but we can help make this process as smooth and seamless as possible by providing clear instructions and supports.

We need to establish and clarify what success looks like at the company level, team level, and within their individual role. They need to be made aware of the objectives and goals of the new joiner’s core team. Also, the progress towards 30- and 60-day milestones with the help of projects, initiatives, and trainings need to be showcased to everyone. Organising a candid feedback session between the new hire and their manager, will increase the team rapport.

It is very essential that your new joiner feels productive and can see that they’re making an impact. One of the proven powerful strategies for employee retention is when we highlight our new employee’s success in presence of the whole team. The leadership team and co-workers can review the new joiner’s project results and share open feedback on their performance and explore goals and objectives for the rest of the year.

Employee retention will always be numero uno in the list of HR management responsibilities as it leads to team building and cohesion in the workplace so workers can come to trust and depend on each other.

Employees who enjoy the company experience are the ones who will take additional and more careful initiatives at work. Customer support and retention won’t really be a problem because the employees will ensure that they take care of it all. What we must do is design  a good employee experience from hiring, through training, to exit and the results will reflect in the overall company performance.