Almost one in three (27.9%) Australian employers say retention is a problem for their business, according to the latest Hudson Report: HR Insights released by Hudson, a provider of recruitment, talent management and managed services.
The survey of 7,185 employers nationally showed that the impact of poor retention strategies include serious productivity problems, a decrease in company morale and damage to business relationships.
According to Hudson, the best ways to improve retention involve a multi-faceted approach that focuses on core elements, including:
- Flexible work options
- Financial incentives
- Management support (leadership development, and mentoring and coaching programs)
- Job fit and career opportunities (succession management and high potential programs)
The HR Insights report revealed that over 96% of organisations have formal staff engagement programs in place with the most widely-used initiatives within Australian businesses being flexible work options (67.5%) and financial incentives (62.0%).
Retention Tips
The report highlights the following recommendations to help increase staff retention:
1. Flexible working options
- Provide flexible benefits to employees tailored to their individual work/life situations.
- Ensure differing culture and work environment preferences are reflected in the programs offered by your organisation.
- Provide a broad range of flexible work options to staff, that reflect the values of the organisation.
2. Financial incentives
- Know the market value of the roles in your business, and pay competitive salaries.
- Tailor the compensation package based on individual and business needs.
- Differentiate remuneration based on performance of employees.
3. Management support
- Provide leaders with the skills to effectively support and develop their staff.
- Provide managers with the skills to offer feedback to staff on their performance and areas for improvement.
- Hold managers responsible for retention of their team.
4. Job fit and opportunities
- Use a rigorous selection process to recruit the best employees who have the best cultural fit with the organisation.
- Provide individualised development based on identified development needs.
- Proactively provide opportunities for individuals to develop their career through succession management and development of high potential employees.
To view a copy of the report please go to the Hudson web site.
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