Experienced, knowledgeable employees are your company’s most valuable asset and something you can’t afford to lose. Given that reality, you should be looking at ways to reduce your staff turnover any way you can.

Failure to prioritise employee retention is the opposite of strategic leadership. The cost of staff turnover is extremely expensive. They say in Australia alone, staff turnover costs businesses $3.8 billion annually. Training new hires is expensive which makes it a direct waste of money. When you look at the cost of replacing the individual staff member, you can say that it costs about 50 to 60% of their of their annual salary. High turnover is also a canary in the coal mine for businesses because when employees are not satisfied enough to stay at their jobs, It shows there is a problem. Not only are they less likely to be giving their all in those jobs, but they are demonstrating to you that there may well be a problem that makes people want to leave.

It’s then safe to say that one of the most important company goals is to keep your team members genuinely happy. Avoid the expense of turnover whilst streamlining your business output and productivity.

Providing these five key elements will create a workplace that attracts and retains top shelf happy productive workers who stick around to invest in the long haul of your business growth journey.

 1. Contribution

Every member of your team needs to feel like they’re making a contribution to something that makes a difference in the world. They should feel valued for the contribution they are making not only in your core business but also in the social environment of your company and their broader community. They need to sense that their work is connected to the peak impact that your business makes in the world. Make them feel like the work they do really counts towards something that’s more important than them just getting through the day.

 2. Excellence

There’s nothing more deeply satisfying for your team than knowing they do really great work. A  job well done makes you feel really good about yourself. So setting your team up for that feeling of excellence is a sure-fire way to improve staff retention rates. Make sure they know what a good job looks like, and that they are supported in achieving that exemplary outcome every single time.

3. Community

Every member of your team wants to belong socially when they come to work. They want to feel like they get to work with people who value their contribution and enjoy being in their company. Developing this sense of community will involve lots of connection points for your staff. It doesn’t necessarily need to be about fancy team building days or retreats, although these are fabulous ways to build that connection. You can still build a sense of community simply by using people’s names, having regular check-ins and developing a sense of camaraderie around the workplace.

4. Acknowledgment

They say that when people quit their work, 79% of them cite a lack of appreciation as the reason that they go to work elsewhere. To acknowledge your staff is a vital part of building community, of acknowledging excellence and developing a sense of contribution. Your staff really need to feel like what they do matters, and it can look like in the form of just simply saying thank you, remembering people’s names and smiling and having a social conversation every now and then. Acknowledging not only the work that people do in your business, but who they are and the value that they bring as individuals, is a central part of maintaining a really invested company culture.

5. Reward

The final thing your team needs to invest in your business is tangible rewards. It can be as simple as chocolates or a bottle of wine, or something monetary like annual bonuses or commission bonuses. Having a nice handy boost of tangible rewards highlights exactly what a good job looks like and how much you value that excellence in your business. But there’s a caution here about overusing tangible rewards. Intrinsic motivation is always going to drive people forward in a more reliable, lasting way. But giving out rewards when they’re earned, and making sure that people realize they are appreciated when they do great work is a really important part of keeping your company culture.

Keeping up with what your team wants and needs can be challenging. However, getting this right will greatly benefit your company and the bottom line. By providing these simple solutions, employers can significantly improve the satisfaction of their employees and encourage their best workers to stick around for the long haul.