Michael Page Logo

Language

  • English
  • Français
  • Deutsch

Main menu

  • Home
  • Candidates+

    Searching for a job?

    • Searching for a job?
    • Job search
    • Submit your cv
    • Join PageGroup
    • Join our SSC in Barcelona
    • Our recruitment process

    Looking for advice?

    • Looking for advice?
    • Career advice
  • Recruitment+

    Recruitment services

    • Recruitment services
    • Our Expertise

    Management advice

    • Management advice
    • Attraction and recruitment
    • Development and retention
    • Induction and engagement
    • Temp & Interim Management

    Recruitment

    • Recruitment
    • Banking & Financial Services
    • Commodity Trading
    • Engineering
    • Finance & Accounting
    • Healthcare & Life Sciences
    • Human Resources
    • Information Technology
    • Interim Management
    • Legal & Compliance
    • Office & Management Support
    • Procurement & Supply Chain
    • Property & Construction
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Sales Administration & Customer Service
    • Tax & Treasury
  • Advice & News+

    Career advice

    • Career advice
    • Job search advice
    • Cover letter and CV advice
    • Job interview tips
    • Growing your career
    • Temp & Interim
    • Work-Life-Balance

    News and research

    • News and research
    • Media releases
    • Salary Factsheets
    • Studies
    • Market updates
    • Remote Recruitment

    Management advice

    • Management advice
    • Attraction and recruitment
    • Development and retention
    • Induction and engagement
    • Temp & Interim Management

    Profession

    • Profession
    • Engineering
    • Finance
    • IT

    Webinars

    • Webinars
  • Interim
  • About us+

    About us

    • About us
    • Michael Page
    • Page Personnel
    • Page Executive
    • Page Outsourcing
    • PageGroup
    • Join PageGroup
    • Discover our Barcelona Shared Services Centre 
  • Contact+

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Contact Michael Page
    • Submit your CV
    • Submit a job spec
    • Request a call back
My account
Saved jobs (0)

Language

  • English
  • Français
  • Deutsch
Saved jobs (0)
My account
My account
Search for a job

You are here

Home>Advice>Management Advice>Development and retention>The importance of staff retention

The importance of staff retention

A moderate level of staff turnover can be good for a business; it means fresh ideas and approaches. However, every organisation needs to have a strategy in place to retain the high performers that give it a competitive edge; they are the ones you can’t afford to lose.

Ignoring high levels of employee turnover can be very costly; it lowers internal morale and it could harm an organisation's external reputation and cost it business. So, understanding the importance of staff retention is vital.

It's essential to try to learn more about the reasons why people resign. The reasons might simply be more attractive jobs elsewhere or chances for lifestyle reshapes, in which case it might be out of your hands to retain these employees. However, many people leave their jobs because they are dissatisfied with their current situation. There are ways of retaining these people, highlighted below.

Main reasons people leave a job

In our experience the most common negative reasons for leaving a job are:

  • Poor salary and benefits
  • A lack of training and development opportunities
  • Dissatisfaction with management
  • Not getting along with colleagues
  • The journey to work
  • Lack of work/life balance

Methods to find out why staff are leaving include:

  • Confidential attitude surveys.
  • Questionnaires sent to former employees around six months after their departure.
  • Exit interviews

 

However, while companies do conduct 'exit' interviews to try and ascertain the reasons behind a departure, because of the necessity to obtain a decent reference, people often tone down or completely fabricate their reasons for leaving.

Ways to improve staff retention

By adopting a mix of the following methods, you should see an improved staff retention rate:

  • Ensure those being recruited have a realistic idea of what the job entails
  • Improved career development opportunities.
  • Effective appraisals
  • Strong diversity policies.
  • A practicable means of dealing with bullying.
  • A good work/life balance.
  • A mechanism for staff to register dissatisfaction, whether it is appraisals, grievance proceeding and so on.
  • Leadership training for managers.

 

Make your employees feel valued and proud of the work that they do will not only do wonders for your employer branding strategy, but will immediately improve your turnover rate. Develop a work culture that encourages diversity and creativity and put in place effective anti-discrimination policies that promote flexible working, where possible.

Adopting a strategy for staff retention is not always easy, but it will greatly benefit your organisation.

For more advice on the matter read Michael Page's other articles on staff development and retention.

 

Previous
Six tips to help your candidate to relax at interview
Read article
Next
The importance of leadership in building teams
Read article
If you're a candidate and would like to apply, please refer to our candidates section.
CVs submitted on this form will not be actioned.

Get in touch

Topics

  • Career Advice
  • Management Advice
  • Profession
  • Market Updates

Popular Articles

  • The importance of networking
  • Switzerland is one of the most interesting e-commerce markets in Europe
  • Switzerland's FinTech sector is flourishing
  • Switzerland’s top three human capital trends 2018
  • Reach your goals with strategic career planning
  • Introvert vs extrovert, what we can learn from both
Michael Page Logo
  • Follow us on FacebookFollow us on Facebook

General

  • Site map
  • Recruitment Terms & Conditions
  • Feedback
  • Privacy policy
  • Imprint
  • Cookie policy
  • Country/Region
  • Our response to COVID-19

Iso-27001 logo

Find jobs by sector

  • Accounting, Audit & Advisory, Tax and Treasury
  • Banking & Financial Services
  • Commodity Trading
  • Consultancy, Strategy & Change
  • Customer Service
  • Digital
  • Engineering & Manufacturing
  • Executive Search
  • Healthcare & Life Sciences
  • Human Resources
  • Information Technology
  • Legal
  • Logistics, Procurement & Supply Chain
  • Marketing & Agency
  • Office & Management Support
  • Property, Construction, Facilities Management
  • Public Sector & Not for Profit
  • Retail
  • Sales

Employer Centre

  • Request a call back
  • Submit a job spec

About Michael Page

  • Corporate Site
  • Investors Site

Michael Page International (Schweiz) AG | Bleicherweg 10, 8002 Zurich | Switzerland 

© Michael Page (2020)