6 Employee Retention Strategies to Reduce Small Businesses Turnover
1. 6
Employee
Retention
Strategies
to
Reduce
Small
Businesses
Turnover
Replacing
employees
is
time
consuming,
costly,
and
frustrating.
It’s
one
thing
to
hire
for
a
new
position,
but
replacing
employees
you
have
spent
time
and
money
training
is
another.
If
you
want
to
reduce
costly
turnover
and
create
a
more
competitive
workforce,
follow
these
employee
retention
strategies
for
your
small
business.
1.
Keep
Employees
Motivated
With
Incentives
Keep
your
employees
motivated
and
give
them
a
feeling
of
accomplishment
by
offering
low-‐
cost
incentives.
They
can
include
giving
gift
certificates,
adding
paid
time
off
(PTO),
taking
them
out
to
lunch,
or
featuring
them
in
the
company
newsletter.
When
implemented
right,
these
types
of
incentives
keep
your
employees
motivated
and
excited
about
their
work.
2.
Offer
Benefits
to
Suit
One-‐size-‐fits-‐all
benefits
packages
simply
don’t
work.
Increase
employee
retention
by
providing
multiple
benefit
packages
and
allowing
employees
to
pick
and
choose
which
are
best
for
them.
For
example,
offer
health
insurance,
life
insurance
plans,
retirement
funds,
and
perhaps
even
telecommuting
opportunities.
This
employee
retention
strategy
shows
employees
that
you
are
interested
in
their
personal
well-‐being
and
that
you
are
willing
to
accommodate
their
needs—
which
gives
them
even
more
reasons
to
stay.
3.
Foster
Development
Provide
employees
training
on
job
skills,
offer
continuing
education
courses,
or
even
tuition
reimbursement
for
job-‐related
degrees.
The
more
you
encourage
and
reward
personal
development,
the
more
you’ll
be
able
to
retain
your
best
employees
and
improve
morale.
2. 4.
Promote
From
Within
When
it’s
time
to
create
a
new
senior
position,
start
the
search
with
your
existing
employees
before
searching
for
outside
candidates.
When
you
constantly
promote
from
the
outside,
employees
get
frustrated
and
may
stop
giving
their
best
since
they
don’t
see
any
opportunities
to
grow
with
your
business.
Promoting
from
within
is
one
of
the
key
employee
retention
strategies
because
it
shows
employees
that
there
is
a
chance
for
advancement
within
your
small
business.
5.
Keep
in
Contact
Effective
communication
is
critical
in
any
business.
Owners
and
supervisors
should
be
in
constant
contact
with
employees.
Share
your
small
business’
mission
and
goals,
keep
tabs
on
emerging
employee
conflicts,
show
interest
in
their
personal
life
(when
appropriate),
and
make
sure
employees
know
you
have
an
open
door
policy.
Keeping
in
regular
contact
can
motivate
employees
and
make
them
more
willing
to
truly
care
about
the
growth
of
your
small
business.
6.
Encourage
Feedback
–
And
Listen
Getting
employee
feedback
is
important
but,
all
too
often,
small
business
owners
don’t
follow-‐
up
or
communicate
the
reasons
for
certain
decisions.
While
you
can’t
accommodate
everyone’s
request,
showing
that
you
care
enough
to
ask
and
fix
what
you
can
will
go
a
long
way.
For
example,
if
employees
ask
for
more
flexible
hours,
see
if
you
can
work
that
into
your
scheduling.
If
you
get
multiple
requests
for
the
same
thing,
it’s
an
indication
that
a
majority
of
your
staff
is
looking
for
change.
Employee
turnover
is
a
costly
problem
for
any
small
business.
Following
these
employee
retention
strategies
can
help
you
retain
your
best
employees—not
to
mention
saving
on
hiring,
training,
and
much
more.
Learn
more
about
how
you
can
avoid
costly
turnover
by
getting
your
copy
of
Practical
Tools
to
Manage
Costly
Employee
Turnover.