Although it is normal for employees to change jobs, it is unusual for companies to experience such a high rate of employee turnover. Talent Retention Techniques, a startup cannot afford to lose employees, so it should begin implementing talent retention strategies immediately.
According to research by Society for Human Resource Management, direct replacement costs can reach 50 to 60 percent of an employee’s annual salary, with total turnover costs ranging from 90 to 200 percent of an employee’s annual salary.
Tech talent such as data scientists can be very tempted to change jobs due to the high demand for these talents as opposed to the low available talent. Big companies offer very attractive offers, so you can’t risk losing the talent you already have in your company.
Techniques to Increase Talent Retention in your Startup
The talent retention techniques that work best are some of the ones we explain here. Make sure you follow these recommendations to avoid employee turnover in your startup.
Be Open to Feedback
Interview employees who quit and have an honest conversation about why they are leaving their job. There should be enough trust for them to tell you their reasons. Some of the most common reasons people quit their jobs are:
- A better salary and benefits
- Poor relationship with management
- Negative work environment
- New career paths
- Lack of recognition for good performance
- Stressful job
- Lack of growth opportunities
Being open to communication with your employees and listening to their feedback is important to create an environment of trust. A good idea is to conduct anonymous employee surveys on their level of satisfaction with their job and management.
Create a Positive Working Environment
A positive working environment is based on inclusion and diversity in which everyone has the same opportunities to grow together with the startup. Providing a space based on trust, honesty, and teamwork creates a positive work environment. This way, each member brings their tech skills and knowledge to achieve the same goal.
In a positive working environment, employees work as a team to meet the startup’s goals and achieve success together. It is also a workplace where executives and management connect with employees to create an atmosphere of prosperity.
Recognize Employees Efforts
Recognizing employees’ efforts motivates them to continue putting forth the same effort in each project they complete for your startup. Take into account their aspirations and priorities to offer personalized recognition to employees who demonstrate excellent performance.
One of the ways to recognize employees’ good work is to invite them to participate in online courses, coding bootcamps such as General Assembly, Coding Dojo, Flatiron School, and Thinkful, and conferences to continue learning and training to improve their knowledge and skills and contribute to their professional growth.
Ensure Work-life Balance
Work-life balance is important to avoid employee burnout and to have happy and healthy employees. To ensure everyone has a good work-life balance, you must have an equal distribution of tasks and learn to delegate.
In the United States, 94 percent of employees work more than 50 hours each week, and many of these workers also work on the weekends. This results in a poor work-life balance for many employees. 48 percent of Americans identify as workaholics, whereas 72 percent of job-seekers consider work-life balance.
Ensure you are honoring their days off and vacation days so they can rest as they deserve and return to work with more energy and good spirits. Workers such as software engineers often work overtime since they can work anywhere, so ensure they have enough days off.
Promote Culture
Demonstrate that your organization’s culture is based on creating a space in which each employee feels valued and considered to grow together with the organization. A startup should strive to guide its teams towards a clear goal to drive the business forward.
You must pay attention to employee behavior to promote a healthy corporate culture and foster good work-life balance and clear communication. The contribution of every employee will make your startup generate a good impact both in their work and personal lives, strengthening bonds and building trust and transparency.
Conclusion
Some of the techniques we presented are geared toward listening to your employees and providing them with everything they need to feel comfortable in your startup, such as online courses for their professional growth and days off to recharge and create a positive work environment.
Applying all these techniques and good talent management strategies will help you retain talent in your startup and decrease employee turnover. Communication is always the key; staying close to your employees and finding out what makes them uncomfortable or why they want to leave is always necessary for a startup.
Read more: 5 Talent Management Strategies for Startups