5 Action Steps to Improve Employee Retention Today

It’s no secret that businesses face a crisis in staffing due to high employee turnover during what’s being called The Great Resignation. For leaders, reducing turnover is a huge and stubborn challenge, making improving employee retention and engagement a top priority.

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At The Workplace Coach, we’re all about helping our executive and leadership coaching clients identify actions they can take to tackle challenges head-on. In this blogpost, we provide leaders like you with specific actions steps for implementing the five employee engagement and retention strategies that today’s experts consider most effective.

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Ready? Let’s get started!

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Strategy #1: Provide growth opportunities.

Action Step: Initiate individual coaching conversations with employees. Ask them about their growth goals. What skills would they like to acquire? What are their career objectives? Be sure to act on what they say by giving employees access to appropriate training programs, coaching or mentoring, etc.

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Strategy #2: Re-focus on your organization’s purpose.

Action Step: Wherever possible, expose employees to end products or services and to happy customers. This helps employees understand where they fit in the big picture, experience the company’s purpose firsthand and see the value they bring.

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Strategy #3: Reward loyalty.

Action Step: In individual coaching conversations, ask employees: What is most rewarding to you about your job? How can we make your job more fulfilling or meaningful? What obstacles get in your way? How can we help? As always, be sure to act on what you’re told. 

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Strategy #4: Support employee mental health.

Action Step: Remind employees about any existing mental health and wellness programs or benefits. If budget allows, expand mental health and wellness perks – both for employees and their families. Also, when employees face challenges at home, have an open door and be an empathetic listener. 

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Strategy #5: Be flexible (and generous).

Action Step: Implement flexible work schedules to accommodate employees’ personal or family needs. Where feasible, offer opportunities to work remotely. Use technology that facilitates flexible scheduling, job sharing, work from home, and the like. If possible, expand vacation time.

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Bonus tip: Be a coach-like leader

As you’ve noticed, several of the above action steps urge leaders to talk directly with employees about important issues. These conversations will be most effective if you adopt a leader-as-coach approach. 

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Leaders who coach bring coaching skills to their employee conversations, including:

• asking open-ended questions, 
• listening without judgement, and 
• being genuinely curious. 

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Of course, it only works if you act on what you hear!

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Finally, be sure to prioritize your own growth and development by learning how to be a coach-like leader. At The Workplace Coach, supporting our executive and leadership coaching clients in developing leader-as-coach skills is our specialty! 

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Contact The Workplace Coach today to learn how you can become a masterful leader who knows how to engage and retain your employees.

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