What are some innovative employee retention techniques that HR consultants have implemented or recommended?

Absolutely need to consider flexible working as post pandemic it is expected where a role can be done remotely. What I’ve experienced and works (Teams is a fabulous tool):- Fully Agile (within UK) with travel as and when Hybrid offering a mix of working from home and from office Compressed hours to give time off at end of working week Nine day fortnights Flextime (building hours for day off) What I’ve experienced and is not attractive resulting in high turnover and difficulty recruiting is:- Mandatory on site working No working from home Little flexibility Long working week >37.5 hours Surprisingly some leaders don’t seem to see or care these the old fashioned autocratic practices create turnover and attraction issues.

Give everyone a voice. Feeling powerless to influence or change frustrating or annoying aspects of an organisational culture breeds resentment and this can snowball as team members gossip and complain amongst themselves. This is especially true if they don't have a positive outlet to discuss their issues. Set up Bring and Share events where employees can bring their issues, discuss how to resolve them, share ideas and solutions and move forward in a practical way. Make sure staff feel heard by adding a Question Time opportunity with a panel of leaders.

Finding the "Moments that Matter" to employees is key, and seriously addressing them is one of the best ways to ensure retention. The servant leader model is another way (Robert K. Greenleaf's philosophy). He identified two different types of leaders: servant-first and leader-first. A leader-first leader is mainly about their own career growth whereas, the servant leader is more selfless and focuses on the well-being and long-term growth of team members. Teams can thrive and get their highest-impact work done. To me, if a manager sees themselves as a servant of the team, the whole dynamic changes, and likely the team is better set up for success than in a traditional leader model. This really helps retention too.

Understanding why people leave should be the starting point for a retention strategy. Without clarity over why people are leaving any initiatives risk adding in cost and workload whilst having limited impact. People leave organisations for many reasons so it is important to explore the reasons why different demographic groups leave. You may find that employees of a certain age leave after a certain time period for certain reasons. You may find that more people are leaving in one part of the organisation than others etc. And, of course, acting on feedback is critical. If you do what you've always done, you will get what you always got. HR can play a central role in presenting feedback from leavers to the business.

Statutory Minimum applied to every policy such as sick pay, holidays, etc is not the way forward. The government have this set as a safety net -doesn’t mean businesses have to stick to that rule. Consider enhancing where you have a statutory minimum set out in a policy. Employees will appreciate it and it can be sold as a benefit / act as a retention and attraction tool.

Do what the government does to get high retention. Offer a lot of benefits!! There are actually a lot of options that don't require company funds to offer. Offering people more than a paycheck makes you "stickier" as an employer. 😉

Communication is essential for the human spirit. While these previous ideas are excellent strategic actions to improve retention, it’s critical for organizations to communicate “the why” behind these decisions. It’s often overlooked but if employees understand why the company’s investing in a better employee experience, they will feel valued. Employee will also feel part of the journey, as if these changes are happening with them not to them.