Written by Mairead Simons

Employee retention is how companies make sure that their talent stays with them. When it comes to an unpredictable scenario like potential recession or general instability in the economy, employee retention plays a big role in minimising losses for employers. When the market situation is unstable, employees tend to feel unsafe and therefore more likely to make a move.

With employee retention being beneficial for both employer and employee, it’s important that this doesn’t get forgotten in our current economic climate. Hiring new talent costs money and time to businesses, so it’s best to invest in the staff you have now rather than going through training and onboarding many times over by having to make news hires. 

Some key ways to retain talent within your business:

Recognition – this is key to employee happiness. Recognising the work your staff are undertaking and the successes they’ve had will be key in keeping staff in times that are uncertain. They will feel they are safe if it’s being reinforced that they’re doing a good job. A little thing you can do that makes a big difference to employees and how comfortable they feel at work.

Training and promotional opportunities – employees need to feel they are going somewhere. Employees are more likely to stick around and gain loyalty to a company if they feel like they can improve on their current situation through work. Now is a great time to put some real investment into employees, for example there are some great online training courses that can be offered.

Benefits & staff incentives – in the current climate this is easier to achieve than pay rises. Plenty of companies are in the same boat and employees will understand so should hopefully appreciate any extra incentive such as staff parties etc that you can offer. For a lot of people at the moment stability is worth more than cash and people are grateful for the positions they have but adding in extra benefits is a great way to increase employee retention.