While most news coverage of the so-called “great resignation” has declined in recent months, the trend itself is still visible resulting in discussions of how to improve employee retention. Voluntary turnover has fallen a bit since its peak in November 2021, but remains unusually high. According to the US Labor Department, more than 4.1 million people voluntarily left their jobs in September of 2022. This makes up a significant portion of the 5.7 total separations, and the third month in a row with a quit rate of 3.7%.

Voluntary turnover should be a concern for any organization, and it’s worth taking steps to both prepare for and prevent. After all, the success of a business stems from the quality of its employees, and retaining high-performing employees with valuable skills and institutional knowledge is critical to maintaining productivity and overall morale.

That’s not even mentioning the significant financial costs associated with losing and replacing an employee. According to one study, that cost can range from one half to two times the given employee’s annual salary.

Improve Employee Retention with these Steps

So how can organizations avoid incurring these costs and improve employee retention rate? Here are a few steps you can take right now to increase employee satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of falling victim to the great recession.

Keep Up With New Work Trends

Managers may fall back on the old saying “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” especially when teams appear to be operating well. But it’s important to remember that contributing factors to employee satisfaction aren’t always clearly visible in output numbers. Look for opportunities to make work easier on your employees, and in many cases you’ll find those solutions also increase productivity and improve efficiency.

Remote work is an excellent example. While the COVID-19 pandemic brought about massive adoption of work-from-home arrangements, many employers are hesitant to instant the practice full-time. However, providing the option to work from home or in a hybrid model can not only save employees time and money on their daily commute, but even help them be more productive during the workday. Most importantly, it’s an attractive option that will not only help improve employee retention, but recruitment as well.

Help Employees Grow

Employees, and top performers in particular, are drawn to opportunities that will help them develop new skills and thus advance their career. That next step can take place within or outside of your organization, so if you want to hold onto your quality employees, you need to provide advancement opportunities.

According to one study, an overwhelming 82% of workers said that lack of opportunities for career progression was the main reason they'd consider quitting a job. Furthermore, that study found that career growth is even more important than salary in many cases. It’s clear that leaving little room for career development or professional advancement is a recipe for high employee turnover.

Employers need to provide ample opportunities for their employees to grow within the organization. That doesn’t always have to mean moving up to management positions. By working with employees and their direct supervisors to find new responsibilities, carve out new roles, and even create new titles and positions that suit the employee’s broader career path, employers not only encourage employees to stay onboard, but also get a more experienced and proficient employee to boot.

A robust employee learning and development program is a win for employers and a win for employees as well. It can help companies attract top talent, retain current employees, and develop a more skilled in-house workforce.

Targeted Training and Upskilling

According to a McKinsey study, adoption of digital or digitally-enabled solutions accelerated by 7 years. This new technology may not wholly replace human workers, but it is likely to change the nature of the related jobs. In fact, a separate McKinsey study found that 87% of employers reported they were either already facing a skill gap or expected to in the next few years.

Rather than battle with competing employers for candidates with the advanced skills your business will need to progress into the future, consider strategically reskilling and upskilling your existing workforce. It’s a great time to invest in internal training tools as an efficient, cost-effective way to ensure your business has the people it needs to embrace new tech trends and stay ahead of the curve.

Implement the Right Tools

It’s clear that Learning and Development (L&D) plays a critical role in both building and retaining an engaged and productive team. However, 40% of HR leaders say they can’t build skill development solutions fast enough to meet evolving needs. To effectively meet these L&D needs, an increasing number of corporations, new age startups, non-profits, and educational institutions have started adopting and adapting learning management systems (LMS) platforms to upskill their workers, train staff on new technology, and boost overall productivity. Lynx, Exela’s modern and intuitive LMS enables professionals to create, assign, and manage personalized courses, quizzes, and tests, in just a few simple clicks, which, in turn, contributes to employees’ professional growth.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, listening to what your employees have to say, hearing their concerns and feedback, will ultimately lead to a more employee-friendly company and improve employee retention. With the job market being as competitive as it is and with companies looking for ways to improve employees’ work environments, employee retention is top of mind for business leaders. 

Human resources (HR) and recruitment are currently hot topics for business leaders. With the new year right around the corner, everyone is rethinking and evaluating their processes. Companies are keen on hiring the right talent and always considering how they can optimize their resources.

Recruitment and onboarding are often tedious and time-consuming processes that heavily rely on paperwork and undergo multiple touchpoints. Implementing automation can significantly benefit HR and recruitment. For example, manual practices, such as posting job openings or taking new employees through company policies - can be automated for efficiency.

Business process automation (BPA) can cover various operational areas, from hiring to budget approvals and sales and marketing. Let’s look at 5 key processes closely tied to HR and recruitment that require automation.

1. Recruitment and Hiring Tools

HR needs to be empowered with tools that can automate the collection and analysis of applicant information. These include tools for determining salary structures, applicant tracking systems, accepting or rejecting applicants based on specific criteria and so on. Automating these processes will help free up time for your HR team to concentrate on rather critical tasks.

2. Employee Portal

Accessible, user-friendly employee portals give company staff visibility and access to important information.
Employees can systematically request time off, track their absences, view upcoming holidays, and more. It makes managers' lives easy by offering a clear picture of their resources. In addition, having real-time access to important information can help avoid the unnecessary exchange of emails.

3. Payroll and Benefits Platform

Payroll can be a burdensome and time-consuming manual process for HR teams. Calculating numbers manually is not just time-consuming but also leaves room for errors.
Automating payroll improves paycheck accuracy and scheduling. It can quickly tally employee records and calculate benefits while freeing time for HR. In addition, employee benefits tools can track and manage promotions, bonuses, compensations and healthcare benefits.

4. Performance Evaluation and Training

Automating performance evaluation enables feedback tracking and quick performance review reports. In addition, the system further collects this data for future use. These tools can also include features to identify turnover trends and low-performance issues. In addition, you can manage training opportunities, track employee competencies and monitor learning progress.

Performance evaluation and training greatly benefits managers and positively impacts the company's overall performance.

5.Data Management and Analytics Tools

Analytics tools can analyze data sets and find patterns or trends to aid decision-making. For HR, having access to information is a requirement. Sophisticated data management tools include data collection, detailed reports, and data visualization for informed decision-making.

5 Benefits of Business Process Automation for Recruitment and HR

• Less waste and cost saving - implementing automation helps HR departments control paper usage, reduce printing costs, and more.
• Transparency and consistency - automating workflows may improve transparency and clarify roles among staff and employees. For businesses with several locations, automated processes can create consistent HR practices throughout the company’s geography.
• Faster turnaround and fewer errors - Automation can significantly improve turnaround. It allows tasks to be completed simultaneously. BPA optimizes the flow of information and automates repetitive tasks. Another key benefit of BPA is that it helps to significantly reduce human error. It provides computer-aided data to check for logical errors, leading to reduced human error.
• Data-driven decision-making - tracking data across HR functions allows companies to analyze operations better. Systematically published reports reflect trends and help find patterns that can easily be overlooked otherwise.
• Increased productivity with better resource allocation - HR departments can spend more time on complex tasks by automating repetitive and tedious processes. Employees can also spend less time on routine HR processes, such as requesting time off.

These are just a few processes that should be automated, but the list could go on, and the same goes for the benefits. As per a report from SalesForce, 18% of IT leaders suggested that the highest ROI from automation occurs in the HR department.

Exela's decades of experience and expertise in implementing BPA have helped numerous businesses gain a competitive edge. Learn more about our HR solutions or get in touch, and one of our experts can answer your questions.