What would happen if your organization took one year and focused all of its efforts on creating a workplace culture that nurtured, educated and inspired the people who work there? This means, no new building projects, renovations, investments in certain technologies, or anything else that isn’t a pressing need for one whole year and allocated the money to workforce development.
Should you do that, here are the top 3 things that have been proven to help retain employees:
- Adapt an already developed orientation program for your organization
- Modify a mentor program for new and existing employees
- Educate your mid-level managers on management and leadership
- Gather your team and create a communication system where information flows freely and breaks down barriers between departments and through the ranks. Then test it.
After implementing one or all of the above, here are a couple of other ideas that you could do
- Create a PRN pool internally or with other like-minded members to fill schedules
- Make a plan to invest in additional education for all employees to help them become masters of their trade or better managers
- Develop career ladders/lattices to help those who want to advance their career upward or within their current jobs.
- Create opportunities for meaningful fun
- Invest in technology that gives employees more time to spend with the people they serve
Economic Impact
Focusing on your workforce will also improve your bottom line and could allow you to pay higher wages to your employees. The cost of turnover differs from employer to employer. Let’s do a little math to see how much you could save (and reinvest back to your employees) by reducing turnover.
If you have 100 employees with an annual turnover of 60% you are spending $240,000 annually on turnover alone (60 employees X $4,000). If you invest $40,000 in retention efforts and end up reducing turnover by 40% (24 employees less), you will end up spending $144,000 annually (36 employees X $4,000) with a savings of $96,000/year. Subtract out the original investment of $40,000 in retention efforts and you will save $56,000/year.
Bottom line, you save money in the long run by investing in your workforce and improving your culture. It is a win-win for everyone.
Let’s make 2020 the year of investing in workforce and watch the impact ripple across the field!
