How you can make your staff stick around

As you look over your hiring budget, you notice a number of staff members are staying on for two years then heading off to other opportunities. Is this a sign of a general change in attitude, or an issue with your company’s culture or leadership?
Here is why your employees are leaving and what you can do to encourage them to stay.

Develop executive courage
Chances are, there is a lack of executive courage among leaders. In its absence, retention suffers because leaders dodge crucial conversations, stall when making decisions without consensus, and avoid taking risks, all of which are tied to innovation and growth. Employees become frustrated and leave.

Ask during exit interviews
Through exit interviews, determine why people are leaving your company. Once you determine the root cause, you can begin to determine what to do to build a more long-term, sustainable culture.
Paint their future
To keep employees engaged and stay is to paint a picture of their future and how they are going to play a part in making it happen. Ask for their input in defining the firm’s vision. When employees believe they are respected and their voice is heard, they will stay.

Hiring process
As a company that has had employees for more than 10 years, if there is habitual exit after two years, that means there is a gap in the hiring process and questions need to be added. Many disconnects can be detected at this stage.

Also, annual reviews should be given to gauge engagement, job satisfaction and goal progress. Lastly, find out what drives them and anchor this into their position.

Fun work culture
In today’s digital age, employees are getting bored fast. They want innovation and creativity in technology to be part of the workforce. Employees also want to be grounded in stronger leadership and growth opportunities. If that is not available to them in a few years, employees are ready to jump ship. Cultivate a fun work culture with solid leadership that enhances internal and external growth.

Employee growth
Your employees want to experience growth, either in terms of a promotion, or through new skills development and professional development.
If growth is stalled and you do not have a clear pathway to promote your employees, be sure they are growing in other ways.

Brand ambassador
Employees are more committed to an employer when they clearly understand their personal role in the company’s success.
Engaging employees through brand ambassador programmes is one way to draw employees closer to the brand, while allowing them to feel a sense of empowerment and ownership of how that brand is portrayed.

Give room for thinking
There is no slam-dunk for keeping people, but you can at least make someone pause before moving on.

Focus on leadership. People want to work in cultures that do not ask them to “check their brains” at the door. Therefore, focus on how your leaders are leading.

Adapted from Forbes