The secret to improving employee retention is so simple, it doesn’t cost anything, and it’s actually right in front of you.

The secret to great employee retention is about making the people in your organization feel valued.

Aim to create an amazing company culture that makes people feel –

  • Valued
  • Accepted
  • Appreciated

Creating great culture is about listening to the people in your organization, and taking action on their feedback

“I don’t like the way we do this, but the company will never change”

Be the organization that actually listens to the feedback and changes! People will tell you exactly what kind of company they want to work for. When feedback is not acted on, people begin to feel hopeless about the situation improving.

When people feel their ideas are not listened to, they become less engaged in their work.

Everyone’s first guess at what causes employee turnover is money. Sure, someone might switch if they can get a better offer. But the truth is, someone that is truly happy where they are at won’t even be searching. The final straw that actually causes most people leave is not feeling respected, valued, and treated fairly at work.

More than 50% of people that leave their job report leaving because of a manager

What about hiring?

Once you have a great culture established, you include your current team in deciding who you hire. Give your team the opportunity to talk with anyone that is interviewing and make sure they feel like they would be a good fit to the current team.

Going Beyond Making Individuals Feel Valued

Taking retention to the next level includes helping your organization find meaning in work.
Develop a system that allows your organization to get behind a cause they feel great about supporting. Part of the system can include company profit to fund what your organization cares about.

Now you have a work environment with individuals that are valued, and their hard work is helping with a cause they feel strongly about. Weak companies are formed because someone saw a market opportunity, unstoppable companies are formed when someone has meaning behind what they are creating.

What cultural transformation does not look like

  • A meeting everyone has to attend
  • Something with a start and end date
  • A program created by managers

So in short, create a culture that is so good your people don’t want to leave.

Take care of your people and they will take care of your organization.

Not sure where to start?

Have everyone in your organization make a list of things they like that have happened to them at work, and a list of things they did not like. These can be compiled into a set of values for the organization, and a list of things that will not happen at the organization. Every week individuals can strive to help each other with ideas from the list of things that create a good experience at work.

The managers don’t create the culture, the individuals create the culture they want!