These are steps that employers can take to make sure staff are happy and stay at your organisation.
Watch the retaining talent webinar
Offer flexible working policies
Support your staff with flexible working policies and benefit schemes.
If you support your staff beyond day-to-day working life, staff will be more likely to stay in their current role.
Here are some policies that the Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) are putting in place:
Period and menopause policy
This allows employees who are experiencing problematic periods or menopausal symptoms to get the support they need to manage their symptoms at work.
Flexible working policy
The Flexible working policy encourages staff to work in a flexible way.
CDPS recognises that a better work-life balance can improve staff motivation, performance and productivity It can also reduce stress.
CDPS wants to support its staff to achieve a better balance between their working and personal lives This could help people to take on caring responsibilities, leisure activities, further learning, hobbies, and interests.
Carers policy
Around 1 in 7 workers in Wales have caring responsibilities and this figure is set to rise further.
Our managers should be sympathetic to requests for support from employees who have significant caring responsibilities that affect their personal and work-life balance.
Reward and praise staff
Reward, acknowledge and praise your staff regularly.
This helps to boost engagement and reinforces desired behaviour and actions.
Rewards don’t need to be monetary in value. In CDPS, we have a ‘you are awesome’ Slack channel.
Managers and team members use this to acknowledge excellent work.
For CDPS it creates a sense of community within a fully remote business. It also highlights and rewards invaluable work within the business.
Career growth and opportunities
One of the key reasons employers struggle to retain staff is due to a lack of progression and career growth.
For every extra 10 months an employee spends in a role, they become 1% more likely to look beyond their existing company for their next position.
Over the last 4 years there has been a major shift in the power dynamics between employers and employees.
- A study by the Harvard business review
It has become a lot easier and more common for employees to change jobs with little to no consequences.
Therefore, it's important to pay attention to trigger points in an employee’s life cycles. You can:
- have a regular career check-in with your staff
- have open dialogue about their wants and needs within their career
- provide opportunities for secondment
- give a clear pathway to develop their career
Although there is no easy answer to retaining staff, it is important to create an inclusive, nurturing environment. This allows employees to grow with the business instead of growing apart from it.
If you have any questions about attracting, recruiting or retaining staff, please contact our embedded talent partner Lauren Power: lauren.power@digitalpublicservices.gov.wales