3 Ways to Stop Your Valuable Employees from Resigning

The “Great Resignation” can be scary for most employers because in it, employees are leaving their organization at a higher-than-normal rate. However, there are effective ways to slow or avoid an unprecedented turnover in your organization. Workers are quitting their jobs for reasons that have existed for a long time, and those reasons should be the focus of your employee retention strategy.

Here are 3 ways to stop your valuable employees from resigning:

1. Try Career-Pathing

   A major workplace concern that causes workers to quit their jobs in droves is the lack of career growth. For ambitious employees that don’t wish to mark time in the same role forever, you must provide more than the typical “corporate ladder.” Career-pathing is more effective because it’s personalized around an employee’s specific professional goals, skills, and prior experiences.

   What you should do here is approach individual employees with suggestions and resources for achieving their unique goals. Help them figure out the extra skills and experience they require to achieve each objective. You don’t always have to offer an upward career trajectory. Individuals can also achieve meaningful progress in the workplace by exploring lateral opportunities that pose a different challenge. Rotations and additional training are viable career growth catalysts, too.

2. Promote Work-Life Balance

   Thanks to remote working opportunities during the pandemic, many workers rediscovered the joy of spending more time with family and less in the office. Burn-out and stress at work no longer feel normal to most of them. For employers to keep a loyal and engaged workforce today, promoting a healthy work-life balance is more important than ever. Here are some practical suggestions to do that:

   • Create a volunteer program throughout the year, where your employees give back to the community during working hours. These opportunities can allow them to refresh their mind and find perspective.
   • Provide opportunities for your team to “decompress” on-site, such as an office library with books employees can borrow and read.
   • Find enjoyable ways to promote workplace wellness. Healthy workout/eating challenges or scavenger hunts are some fun ideas to ease the stress.
3. Appreciate Progress

   When employees feel undervalued, they can leave for workplace environments where they get the recognition and appreciation they deserve. It’s nice to reward good performance with financial perks, but it’s not always necessary or enough. Try various subtle but high-impact ways to recognize your employees and show them that they’re valued and needed in your organization. These may include:

   • Feedback or verbal praise for a job well done
   • Talking up a top performer to senior management, for example, to be considered for a promotion when the opportunity comes up.
   • Encourage employees to recognize one another for good work (you can even set up a program where colleagues reward each other).

You’ll not always have enough space for everyone to thrive and grow in your organization, but you can keep turnover rates in check. Make sure your employees feel valued by recognizing them when appropriate and create work-life balance programs in your workplace. If you do that while providing individualized career paths, fewer people working for you will be inclined to join the dreaded “Great Resignation.”

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