10+ Proven Employee Retention Ideas for Modern Workplaces

One of the most astounding stats found in a Gallup study is that 59% of employees are quiet quitting. This aligns with its previous study, which showed that only 21% of employees are engaged.

Clearly, companies need thoughtful, personalized retention strategies to genuinely engage and keep their best talent.

In this article, you’ll learn effective employee retention ideas, including how to monitor your employee retention success.

TL;DR - Best Employee Retention Ideas

Can’t read the whole article right now? We have summarized the most effective employee retention strategies that can help keep your workforce engaged:

Fun Employee Retention Ideas:

Employee Retention Strategies for Small Businesses:

Employee Retention Ideas for Millennials

Retention Strategies for Remote Employees

Continue reading for in-depth guides on how to leverage these strategies to reduce your company’s employee churn.

Why Is Employee Retention Important?

Keeping your top talent has significant benefits, including maintaining a competitive edge and company performance. 

Let’s look at some key advantages in detail:

• Lower Costs: Employee retention reduces your recruitment and training expenses.

• Consistent Revenues: Employee retention helps you keep most, if not all, of your workforce so that you can operate at near-full capacity all year round.

• Stronger Organizational Culture: High retention nurtures a sense of belonging, trust, and stability within your teams

• Better Customer Experience: Retaining your client-facing employees often helps build strong customer relationships, which are integral to long-term business success.

• Brand Reputation: High retention rates signal customers, job candidates, and the community that your company has a positive organizational culture and values its employees, which helps improve your brand image.

Common Retention Challenges Facing Employers Today

Next, let’s discuss why many companies are finding it hard to dissuade their employees from leaving:

• Competitive Job Market: Globalization has allowed job candidates to pursue opportunities beyond their geographical borders.
• Lack of Career Development Opportunities: Unfortunately, providing career growth opportunities to high-performing employees every year is impractical, which often compels them to look elsewhere.
• Unclear or Unrealistic Expectations: A disconnect between employees and top management regarding performance expectations often frustrates hardworking employees, causing them to leave the company.
• Neglecting Employee Wellness: Overlooking meaningful wellness initiatives can negatively impact job satisfaction and lead to higher turnover.
• Evolving Work Structure: The shift to remote and hybrid roles has disadvantaged employers whose operations must be done on-site. Employees prefer flexible work arrangements that let them plan their schedules.
• Mental Health Concerns: 21st-century employees face significant burnout, stress, and anxiety, which can lead some to leave, thereby increasing turnover rates.

Top 13 Employee Retention Ideas

Given the challenges of retaining your top talent, organizations must continuously find ways to keep their employees motivated, happy, and committed to company goals.

However, employee retention is not all about competitive salaries. Members want to feel valued and have a sense of belonging. 

Below are 10+ employee retention ideas to keep your workforce excited, motivated, and committed to your company:

Fun Employee Retention Ideas

Here are some enjoyable employee retention ideas to keep your team happy, motivated, and loyal:

1. Wellness Challenges: Organize low-stakes, high-energy contests, such as step challenges, trivia, and scavenger hunts, to foster camaraderie among team members.
2. Themed Office Days: You could have Throwback Thursdays, where the dress code is inspired by a specific decade, such as the 1980s or early 2000s.
3. Meaningfully Celebrate Milestones: Recognize and reward employees' personal and professional milestones with thoughtful, personalized wellness gifts.

Employee Retention Strategies for Small Businesses

Small business owners must be strategic with human resource management so they don’t lose their top talent to larger organizations.

Some retention strategies include:

4. Regular Recognition and Feedback: Leverage both public and private recognition to boost employee morale, making them feel valued and part of the team.
5. Support Work-Life Balance: Respect employees’ personal time and offer flexible work schedules where possible. Also, encourage employees to take paid time off to unwind and engage in self-care.
6. Provide Competitive Benefits: While your small business could lack the budget to offer high wages, you could make up for it by offering benefits like healthcare insurance and employee assistance programs.

Employee Retention Ideas for Millennials

Millennials place a high value on career growth as well as flexible work arrangements.

Here are some practical tips for retaining your millennial top talent:

7. Career Development: Organize training programs and workshops that enable employees to acquire new skills. For example, our Community Connect wellness program package includes monthly sessions where employees interact with thought leaders and industry experts.
8. Flexible Work Arrangements: Empower millennials to manage their schedules, promoting a healthier work-life balance and boosting retention.
9. Purpose-Driven Initiatives: Millennials want to know how their work makes a difference. As such, organize social responsibility programs, such as charity drives or sustainability efforts. Also, communicate impact stories regularly to reinforce the connection between their work and its outcomes.

Retention Strategies for Remote Employees

Remote employees often struggle with social isolation and a sense of disconnection from the organizational culture. As such, companies must find ways to build camaraderie and a sense of belonging within the remote teams.

Below are proven retention strategies when managing remote employees:

Bottomline?

At the heart of an effective retention strategy is employee wellness—investing in your team’s well-being creates lasting commitment and satisfaction. Specifically, wellness incentives are effective when celebrating your employees’ achievements and milestones. But you should tailor the incentives to your employees' preferences for maximum impact. 

Watch our free on-demand webinar to learn more about providing incentives that inspire employee engagement.

How to Measure Employee Retention Success

Strategizing alone won't achieve high retention. Regularly measuring and refining your strategies ensures lasting success.  We also recommend tracking your employee retention rate for better HR strategies.

This section discusses four primary methods for calculating employee retention:

• Employee Retention Rate: This method determines the percentage of employees who stay at your organization. Calculate your employee retention rate as follows:

• Employee Turnover Rate: Your company’s turnover rate is the ‘opposite’ of your retention rate — it measures how often people leave your organization. Use the formula:

• Employment Tenure: This metric calculates the average length of time employees stay with your company. The formula is:

• Employee Satisfaction: Assess your team’s job satisfaction and commitment to your company. For example, measure the employee NPS and employee satisfaction index. The higher the numbers, the better the success of your retention strategies.

Turn Your Retention Strategies into Real Impact with SoHookd

The above findings can also help you refine your employee retention efforts so you can keep most, if not all, of your top talent.

One such strategy, wellness initiatives, shows your company’s commitment to helping employees achieve work-life balance. 

At SoHookd, we offer pre-built, à la carte, and custom wellness programs to help keep employees motivated and energized.

Our wellness programs consist of three core elements:

• Wellness Challenges: We offer fun, goal-driven wellness challenges to drive higher workplace engagement while helping employees achieve their lifestyle goals.

• Wellness Webinars: Employees can access live and on-demand wellness webinars, which include interactions within the team and expert facilitators to build a sense of community.

• Wellness Incentives: SoHookd wellness marketplace lets you give employees meaningful gifts that support their physical, mental, and emotional well-being, ultimately enhancing their job satisfaction.

Pro Tip: Download our free ebook to learn how psychology-backed incentives can help drive meaningful results for your company.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Got pending questions?

Let’s wind up this article by answering commonly asked questions about employee retention ideas:

What Is a Good Employee Retention Rate?

There’s no specific answer to what comprises a reasonable employee retention rate. It often depends on the industry and job type. 

However, most organizations consider a 90% retention rate to be good.

How Does Wellness Impact Employee Retention?

Wellness initiatives positively impact employee retention. 

Such programs show employees that you care about their well-being, boosting their motivation and job satisfaction and enticing them to stay at your company longer.

What’s the Connection Between DEI and Retention?

DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) makes minority groups feel represented, respected, and valued, increasing their job satisfaction. This increases the chances of employees from minority groups staying with your company, thereby enhancing retention. 

In contrast, organizations where employees feel marginalized or mistreated based on their gender, race, or religion will likely leave, lowering your retention rates.

How Often Should Retention Efforts Be Reviewed?

There’s no specific timeline for reviewing your retention efforts. 

For example, you could conduct quarterly pulse checks to monitor employee sentiments or changes in engagement rates and annual audits to assess retention rates.

Conclusion 

The most effective way to retain your employees is to make them feel appreciated and valued as important members of the team. As such, your retention strategy should genuinely connect employees with your mission, making them feel integral to your shared vision.

But here’s the deal: Implementing an employee retention strategy is time and capital-intensive. As such, we recommend prioritizing strategies that contribute the most to your employee retention efforts — employee wellness.

Partner with a corporate wellness company to implement a winning employee wellness program that keeps your team motivated and committed.

At SoHookd, we have nearly 10 years of experience helping companies implement employee wellness programs. Our programs are founded on psychology-backed incentives to create a positive wellness experience for your employees.

Ready to boost retention and engagement?  Book your personalized call today and see exactly how SoHookd’s wellness programs can transform your workplace