Employee retention benefits: Why is it important?

Retaining your employees may bring many benefits, ranging from cost savings to a competitive advantage in your industry. In this insight, we’ve explored some of the benefits companies with high retention may experience, as well as some actions that may help retain your most valuable staff members.

What benefits does employee retention bring?

High employee retention may bring many benefits to a business and its staff. How you benefit will depend on the unique characteristics of your business and the employees within, but as an example, we’ve listed some of the benefits below:

Enhanced productivity and efficiency

Employee retention may have a direct impact on the productivity and efficiency of your employees. Staying in an organisation for an extended period of time may allow staff members to become more familiar with the culture, processes, clients, systems, their role and more.

This may help them to develop a deep understanding of their responsibilities and how to perform their tasks, which leads to efficiencies in their day-to-day job. You also won’t have to commit resources and time to train them in the same way you might a new employee stepping into a new role.

Cost savings

High employee turnover can be costly for companies for many different reasons, such as:

1. The cost to train new employees
2. Time and money spent on recruitment
3. A drop in productivity from losing efficient staff
4. A drop in morale from a team member leaving
5. The cost of temporary staff

Knowledge and expertise retention

Long standing employees may possess knowledge and expertise that they’ve accumulated throughout their time of working for you. When this employee leaves, their knowledge may be lost.

Retaining your employees and utilising them to share their knowledge and train other staff members may help to create a workforce where multiple individuals are able to meet the company's needs, offering some protection in the event that you do lose a member of staff.

Enhanced customer satisfaction

If your employees are in direct contact with your customers and clients, they’ll naturally develop relationships with them over a period of time. This may lead to improved customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and the ability to provide a better service as a business.

If you lose any employees that hold these relationships, it may be difficult to replicate the relationship with any new staff members, or it may take a long time before a similar relationship is formed. 

Team cohesion

Retaining your employees may foster a sense of team cohesion and collaboration. When team members have worked together for an extended period, they may be more likely to develop effective ways of communicating, working together, and developing personal bonds.

Continuity and consistency

High staff retention may help to maintain the processes and workflows used to deliver your products and services. Retaining your employees helps maintain the consistency and standards of your operations, which in turn may affect many outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and quality of output.

Positive employer branding

Employee retention may contribute to how your company is viewed by its employees and individuals looking to join your business. Unhappy employees are more likely to leave, but by retaining your workforce, you’re demonstrating that your company has created an environment where employees want to remain. Your employees may also become advocates for your business, using their experience to help attract new, talented employees to your business.

What can companies do to improve staff retention?

The benefits of staff retention all represent positive, intangible advantages that may be difficult for your competitors to replicate. To help achieve these benefits, we recommend that your company takes direct action to improve employee retention. We’ve listed some examples of what may work for you below:

1. Competitive employee benefit package - Offering a comprehensive and competitive employee benefits package may help to retain your employees. Benefits can range from anything, such as business insurance, to memberships, discounts, schemes and more. We’ve covered this topic in more detail in our insight What are employee benefits?
   
   
2. Flexible working arrangements - Providing flexible working arrangements, such as remote or hybrid working, may provide more flexibility for your staff and attract staff from over the world. Higher flexibility for your employees may help to retain them, as it gives them more options over when and how they work around their personal lives.
   
   
3. Wellness programs - Wellness programs that aim to improve your staff's physical and mental wellbeing may help retain them. Taking action to improve their wellness helps to demonstrate that you care about them and may encourage them to take healthier life decisions. Learn more in our article What is employee wellbeing?
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4. Professional development and training opportunities - Offering ongoing development and training opportunities shows your employees that you’re invested in their growth and future. This can range from workshops, to conferences, online courses, mentorship programs and more. These opportunities may help your employees feel like they have a future in your business and there is always room for them to develop further, instead of moving to another role in a competitor’s business.
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5. Recognition and reward schemes - Recognising your employees' work may be an essential component of staff retention. Celebrating and rewarding their success may come in the form of financial rewards, ceremonies, gestures and more. This may help boost morale and let your employees know you appreciate them.
   
   
6. Supportive leadership and communication - Your company culture plays a vital role in staff retention, and introducing support systems that improve communication may help to keep your most valuable employees. They may help your employees to feel like their opinions matter, they have support, and they play a vital role in how your company runs and develops.
   
   
7. Business policies and insurances - Many policies available may help businesses with their staff retention goals. Some examples include business health insurance, business dental insurance, health assessments, occupational health services and more. These policies aim to directly benefit your employee, both financially and in terms of their wellbeing. Benefits packages may not be as easily replicated by your competitors, and if your staff feel they’re receiving the best benefits available to them on top of their salary, it may help retain them.

Premier Choice: Helping you with employee retention

We understand the benefits employee retention can bring and its impact on businesses in the short and long term. We have knowledge on various types of insurances and policies that aim to improve your employees' physical, mental and financial health and staff retention rates.

We can help you understand your options when it comes to business policies and how each option would work with your unique setup. We’ll work closely with you to understand your needs before presenting you with the options that make the most sense for your company. 

This is a free service, and you’re not obligated to purchase. Whether you’d like to purchase policies or you’re just researching your options, please complete the form below, and we’d be happy to help.

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