High employee turnover impacts both your time and money, but it can also have huge impacts on staff morale, and productivity and can damage your reputation as an employer. It is important to ensure that you are retaining and incentivising your current team to avoid losing your key employees. 
 

Key ways to retain employees: 
 

Frequently listening to and acting on employee feedback will make sure that any problems are flagged straight away and can be resolved quickly. Feedback surveys can be a good way to allow employees to have the opportunity to leave feedback anonymously, this may help them feel more comfortable in providing feedback and raising any issues they may have.  

Streamline your recruitment process.

Sometimes the reason for employee turnover is the recruitment process leading to poor hires. It is crucial when hiring that you know exactly what values you want your employee to have and clearly outline your company vision, goals, and values in the interview process. This will enable the candidate to think about whether they feel the company is also the right fit for them. Another key element to be mindful of when in the recruitment process is to ensure that the job description accurately reflects the job role.  

Implement an employee share plan.

Being a sole business owner, the retention of key employees is even more prevalent because it is important to have people that you can trust to drive future growth of the business and alleviate some pressure on you so that you have the necessary time to do your tasks. Retaining your key employees is crucial as it could have a huge negative impact on your business if one or some of your key employees decide to go elsewhere.

To retain these employees, offering employee share ownership adds a level of trust and commitment to the company.  Providing employees with a stake in the business will mean they are financially incentivised to drive the business forward, and aligned with the company's goals, ultimately resulting in a win-win for you as the sole business owner and your employee. 

Recognise, respect, and appreciate your employees.

Regularly recognising your employees when they have achieved highly and appreciating when they go above and beyond will make them feel valued and a key part of the team.  

Allow for professional development.

Allowing continued growth so that employees can strengthen existing skills or build new ones. Ensuring that employees know that there is a path for professional development within your company can eliminate the need for employees to look at alternative progression roles elsewhere.  

Ensure your employees are maintaining a work-life balance.

Burnout can be a huge factor as to why employees choose to leave a business.  Showing that you also respect their personal priorities by offering flexibility can be a great incentive, and shows that you trust them and will create a mutual feeling of respect.  

Losing key employees can be a significant challenge and a huge cost for any business. By implementing strategies as outlined above to retain your key employees is a vital part of the long-term success of your company, and something you simply cannot ignore. 

As always, we recommend speaking to your advisors about the best steps before making any changes. If you would like to discuss employee share plans, please get in touch. Our tax advisors are skilled in such areas and can navigate the process smoothly. For more information on how we can help you and your business, please contact us via info@oldfieldadvisory.com or call 02476673160 for support and advice. Let’s work together to grow and strengthen your business.

Please note: This article is provided for information only and was correct as at time of writing (19/03/24). Any lists and details provided above are not exhaustive and are not intended to be full and complete guidance.  No action should be taken without consulting detailed legislation or seeking independent professional advice. Therefore, no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material contained in this article can be accepted.