Employee incentives are a big player in retaining your employees. According to Gartner, US employee annual turnover is likely to jump nearly 20% this year, from an annual average of 31.9 million employees quitting their jobs prior to the pandemic, to 37.4 million quitting in 2022.
Employees have higher expectations from their companies and expect flexibility with their working arrangements. For example, working from home options and flexible schedules. Companies need to step up and offer employee incentives in order to reduce turnover and retain their best talent. Did you know on average, the average cost per new hire in the US is approximately $4,700? After spending this money, you need to ensure you are doing all you can to retain them. This is where employee incentives come into play.
In this blog post, we discuss some top employee incentives that will help you to retain your staff!
Employee incentives to reduce turnover rate
Salary and employee benefits:
Everyone knows how important salary is in recruiting new employees. Salaries need to be competitive and cover employees’ living expenses, food, and all other basic needs. The amount you pay employees will differ depending on the industry and the kind of work they are doing. However, you will need to comply with the minimum wage standard of where you are located. Take into account what other companies within your industry pay staff for the same amount of work to remain competitive.
Similarly, benefits are also hugely important to reduce the turnover rate of your workforce. Companies with over 50 employees are required by the U.S, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 to provide workers with health insurance. Health insurance is a really popular incentive that a lot of employees expect from their workplaces. So by not having a strong benefits plan you are putting your company at a disadvantage in hiring and retaining good workers.
Flexibility:
A flexible workplace is attractive to employees. It means they have a healthy work-life balance so they can spend time doing things like spending time with family and friends. This can look like a flexible schedule whereby workers can start their shift at a time that suits them. It can also look like being able to choose their own shifts through self-scheduling. If workers feel the workplace is too rigid with not enough flexibility, they will more than likely look for opportunities elsewhere. The move to working from home during the pandemic has changed how people work. Remote work has now become the norm for a lot of people. You should definitely consider flexible work options as an employee incentive to retain your workers!
Career Progression:
If a worker doesn’t see a clear career path for progression it can ultimately lead to a lack of motivation, productivity and eventually leaving the company. Your best employees are those who want to move up the career ladder and get promoted. This means you have an ambitious and motivated workforce. However, not giving them opportunities for growth means you are not letting your employee live up to their full potential. Ensure you are letting your current employees know about any job opportunities that become available that you think they are a good fit for. They will appreciate that you are recognizing them for a role and are more likely to stay with your organization for a longer period of time.
Employee Recognition:
Sometimes giving promotions and new job opportunities isn’t always possible with restrictive budgets. When this is the case you need to recognize your employees’ hard work and let them you know you appreciate them. This can be through 1:1 feedback in meetings or by sharing key milestones with the rest of the company. Let your team know that you value their hard work. You can even offer an incentive such as employee recognition awards where employees can vote for other team members and win a prize.
Monetary incentives
Monetary incentives are really motivational for a lot of employees. For example, offering salary bonuses and annual pay rises can motivate workers to reach their key performance indicators. A retention bonus is used to reward employees as an incentive to keep them in the business for a longer period of time. It is usually a once-off payment aimed to keep employees from leaving their position. With the rise of competition in the marketplace, this type of bonus is becoming more common.
Provide educational opportunities
Similar to the above point, educational opportunities are a great way to keep employees engaged and challenged in their roles. Disengaged employees will eventually look elsewhere for a position that interests them. Your brightest employees will be interested in challenging themselves and growing. This is why educational opportunities are a great employee incentive to retain your workers. Investing in training and workplace education courses shows you care about your workers and want them to learn and develop their skills.
“Employees are far more likely to make a long-term investment in the company if the company makes one in them.”
Toptal.com
Time off
It is imperative to provide adequate time off in the form of vacation days and sick leave to your employees. Without breaks in work, employees can feel overworked leading to workplace stress and eventually burnout. This is not good for your employees or your business so ensure they are getting days off to rest and recuperate.
Some companies even offer additional vacation days as incentives if an employee reaches a certain target or deadline. It engages workers and motivates them to meet their goals when they know they are getting rewarded for it.
Foster a positive workplace culture:
Workplace culture is crucial for retaining your workers. Often, you won’t get a good idea of the culture of a workplace until you start working there. If employees aren’t attracted to the workplace culture of your organization they will more than likely want to look for a different job opportunity. Workplace culture encompasses a lot of different things, from the office space you’re working in, to company events and incentives. You need to put the effort in to create a positive workplace culture and you will see how your workers are retained for longer!
Invest in workforce management software
Implementing workforce management software is a great way to help your employee retention and engagement. Software such as Celayix frees up your managers’ time and resources so they spend less time on scheduling and tracking employees and more time on the important stuff! Employees benefit from the Celayix mobile app which provides flexibility and autonomy with their work. If you’d like to find out more about how Celayix can be used to improve your employee retention fill out a contact form here.
