When you’re running a recruitment campaign, candidate attraction is most likely at the forefront of your thinking. It can be easy to let employee retention become an afterthought! But here are three simple strategies to improve employee retention and increase employee loyalty. 

Employee retention isn’t something you start working on during a recruitment campaign or when you’ve hired a candidate. Fostering employee loyalty should be continuous! Retaining great talent is the foundation of organisational success, because you recruit great talent to retain it right? So, start utilising great employee retention strategies now. 

Here are three retention strategies you can employ today:

Invest in your teams

Your first thought about investing might be money – but it’s much more than that! Investing is also about time; investing time in developing your teams and team building fosters teamwork and productivity. 

How do you invest time and resources into your existing teams? Consider sharing this through your recruitment advertisements to attract great candidates. Top talent want to see how their work may be valued and how they can develop in your organisation.

It’s no wonder that when your teams are disengaged, productivity decreases. Research reveals that 70% of employees aren’t engaged in their roles which creates an estimated cost of $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year. Investing time into your team will increase productivity and overall work happiness, saving your organisation money and retaining great people

Empower your teams

Empowering your team is a great way to demonstrate trust. According to Forbes, employees who feel empowered or have a level of autonomy within their roles feel more engaged in their jobs than those who do not. 

“Employees who felt a low level of empowerment were rated with engagement at the 24th percentile, whereas those with a high level of empowerment were at the 79th percentile. Clearly, empowerment counts.”

So how can you empower your team? Share their successes on your social media channels and provide incentives as a reward for meeting targets. Sharing how you appreciate their effort and hard work in day-to-day conversations too. 

For example, one of your team members may not have performed so well in a quarter. Express that you fully appreciate their efforts and expect they will learn from this result, and offer them support in areas they may need it. Consider if any workplace or personal problems may have impacted their results. Great leadership fosters employee loyalty over the long-term. Employees should feel valued and empowered to improve even after a tough conversation about KPIs and results.

Provide excellent leadership and support 

Leadership is arguably one of the most important elements of candidate retention. Employees remain loyal to great leaders. Continue to develop and improve your leadership skills, offer support, and understand on a deep level what your employees want from leaders. 

In addition to this, consider offering additional support to candidates and new hires too. The recruitment process can be stressful for candidates, so offering your support during the onboarding process and demonstrating great leadership while they navigate their initial few weeks is essential to making a great impression. Continue this support as they become more autonomous in their decision making is vital. 

Focusing on these three elements will nurture a positive workplace environment for loyal employees to thrive. 

The overarching theme of retention is empowering your people. If your people feel empowered in their role and the organisation, they are more likely to stay loyal to the brand and become advocates. This makes talent attraction much easier over the long term. Investing in your team, building trust and providing support where required will create an empowered and loyal workforce who are in it for the long run.

How do you increase retention and foster employee loyalty? Share a comment below. 

Nikita Thorne is an Oxford-based digital marketer and writer. After completing a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Film & Theatre from the University of Reading followed by a six-month internship in marketing, Nikita has been travelling the world.

While temping as a Content Producer at Employment Office in Brisbane, she gained expertise in recruitment marketing, writing articles and coordinating webinars on multiple recruitment marketing subjects.