How to Create a Happier Workplace

The work force has been developing since the beginning of time; hunters and gathers, buyers and sellers, and employers and those chasing the dollar. But one aspect of the workforce that has changed since the age of IBM and the idea of “getting a good job, getting married, and retiring,” is the growing employee turnover rate.

Several factors contribute to why an employee is unsatisfied with their current position or why they seek other employment opportunities, but what can we do as employers to help build employee retention rate? Employment is no longer a ball and chain that we get stuck in, but these four ways can increase employee retention rates and create a better work environment.

Develop A Strong Hiring Process

Retention starts at the beginning and in order to meet your company’s goals, you need to find potential employees that align with your company’s values. But once you do, how do we ensure that they are in it for the long haul? Finding the right candidate should begin with the initial job posting and filter through to the office Christmas party. During the interview process, we must create an environment that allows for honesty and empathy. Ask about their goals, strengths and weaknesses, but also ask them about how they can contribute and integrate into your company’s culture. Finding the perfect candidate begins with building a stronger hiring process, but also building relationships that allow for candidates to feel growth and potential within your company.

Create an Empathetic Work Environment

Empathy in the workforce creates a stream of communication and listening that affects all aspects of the day to day environment. Employees want to know that they are doing a good job, but they also want to know they are contributing in a positive way. If an employee feels they are making a positive difference, they are often found to work harder, contribute more, and grow as leaders. One attribute that helps contribute to an empathetic work environment include one on one meetings to discuss positive changes, to address employee satisfaction, and to develop road maps for future goals and strategies. This allows for a stronger employee and employer relationship that leads to employees being heard and employers discussing growth within the company.

Offer Competitive Pay Scales and Benefits Package

In a perfect world, we would all do our work out of the goodness of our hearts, but that is not the case for everyone. We often work in order to accomplish our life goals and slowly mark off those items on our bucket list. And at the end of the day, in order to do these things, we need money. Most employees leave their current employer due to the lack of pay, or pay growth for the work they are producing. If an employee feels their product is worth more than what is given, they will seek employment elsewhere. However, this does not always mean higher salaries or hourly wages. Employees can gain just as much from company through 401k or retirement programs, increased health services, additional vacation days, opportunities to work from home, holiday pay, overtime pay, or even half day work days. While we can’t always increase the salary budget, we can find ways to increase benefits packages, which in turn, increases company morale.

And finally, Increase Employee Opportunities and Allow for Advancements

The feeling of being lethargic as an employee leads to lower morale, decreased productivity, and ultimately, leaving the company. However, in order to resist this Friday at 1PM feeling, employees need to be exposed to growth opportunities and have the ability to advance within the company. If you have developed an empathetic work environment through one on one meetings, you will have learned what your employee is passionate about and what skills they want to develop further. Use this. For little to no money, employees can take on new projects, develop leadership skills, represent the company in various avenues, or increase group dynamics. You learn new things about the work environment and you gain more productive and insightful employees. Nonetheless, allowing skill development will produce no better leaders for the company if they see no potential within it, and therefore, choose to seek leadership elsewhere. Creating opportunity for advancement allows for employees to see their goals met through long term investment within the company, lowering the turnover rate of employees.

While there is no such thing as the perfect company to work for, each and every employer, manager, supervisor, or CEO can work towards creating a work environment that employees want to contribute to and it starts with several initiatives. Employees want a good fit for their skills and goals, they want to feel listened to, they want to feel their work is worth something, and finally, they want to grow as an individual, personally and professionally. We can’t eliminate turnover rate, but we can increase our current retention rate.