Any smart employer knows the number one key to business success is finding good employees. And, a close second is holding on to those talented people.

Employee retention is essential for keeping your business running smoothly and for avoiding the tremendous costs to replace employees. In fact, replacing an employee can cost your company anywhere from one-half to two times that person’s salary.

With that in mind, employers are looking for strategies on how to improve the employee experience at their companies.

The market is becoming increasingly competitive — in employees’ favor. That means your company needs to be equally ambitious if you want to attract and retain top talent.

Here are our top 10 tips for enhancing the employee experience, to transform your company into a top employer.

1. Develop an Internal Branding Strategy

If you want to attract the best and the brightest, you have to be clear about what your company stands for.

Qualified candidates today often seek out companies that share their values, rather than just looking for the best paying job. To attract a certain type of employee, think about what values are important to your company and how you should communicate those to an ideal candidate.

Invest some time and resources into identifying your company’s core values. Then, develop an internal branding strategy that reflects those values.

Potential candidates will be impressed by the time and effort you’ve put into creating a consistent brand strategy. And your existing employees will appreciate this effort as well, leading to better employee retention.

2. Offer a Competitive Compensation Package

Of course, money still talks, along with all those other benefits you offer. You’ll attract higher quality candidates if you get a reputation for offering competitive salaries and benefits.

One important step you can take is to do some competitor and market research. This will give you accurate data on salary norms and expectations in the industry.

Consider working with an external company to conduct this research. They can then provide objective recommendations on salary adjustments for existing employees and appropriate salaries for new hires.

3. Invest in Employee Benefits Communication

We admit we might be biased, but we strongly believe that improving employee benefits communication can have a big impact on employee satisfaction.

• If you offer great benefits and have a clear and easy way for your employees to navigate those benefits, they’ll feel supported and valued. Plus, they’ll actually know how to use the benefits you spend so much on each year.
• On the other hand, a confusing benefits experience (even for a Cadillac package) can leave your employees feeling frustrated and unsupported.

There are countless ways you can improve the way your employees experience the benefits you offer, and we can help. From easy-to-navigate microsites to custom wellness platforms, we’d love to help you tackle your goals.

4. Improve Internal Communication

Benefits communication is only one part of internal communication. Excelling at both will help your employees understand important information and take necessary actions.

For example, employee manuals, policies, and other technical information can be made far more useful and engaging with a strategic approach. This is important because, generally speaking, that information is essential to your employees’ success at your company. If they don’t understand or absorb that information, it’s not going to be very useful.

You can improve your internal communication by sending out engaging graphic emails, offering interactive planning tools for retirement or PTO, putting thought and effort into communicating technical information in fun and engaging ways — and any other number of strategies.

We can help you find the right solutions for your specific challenges.

5. Foster Employee Engagement

The last thing you want as an employer is for your employees to just be going through the motions. You want them to be engaged in their work because that’s when they’ll be happiest and most productive.

Engaged employees are passionate about their work and committed to your company’s success. Combine engaged employees with a company culture that matches that employee’s values and beliefs, and you’ll have an employee experience that drives business goals.

So, make sure you’re keeping an eye out for areas of improvement (workspace environment, growth and development, leadership support). Listen to employees’ concerns and suggestions, and invest in helping them feel more engaged in their day-to-day work.

6. Conduct Anonymous Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Even the best companies can sometimes miss the mark if they don’t have a full picture of employee satisfaction. You may be completely unaware of certain opportunities for improvement if your employees don’t specifically tell you about them.

That’s where anonymous employee satisfaction surveys come in handy. You can ask detailed questions to help improve the employee experience, such as:

• How satisfied are you with your salary/bonus/benefits?
• Do you see yourself at our company in 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?
• Are you happy with your manager’s style of management?
• What improvements would you like to see at our company in the next year?
• How would you rank our company in terms of diversity and inclusion?

Asking these questions anonymously means you’ll get much more detailed, honest answers. Then you can take that information, look for common patterns and themes, and make changes accordingly.

7. Add Other Perks

Competitive salaries and benefits packages are the foundation of valuing employees, but other perks can also impact the overall employee experience.

Here are just a few ideas of perks you might consider offering:

• Free snacks in the office (if/when your staff is back in the office)
• Monthly lunch (this can be provided whether or not you’re back in the office)
• Educational opportunities, such as bringing in a topic expert once every quarter or paying for courses
• Sabbatical period after a certain number of years with your company (e.g. one month sabbatical after five years with your company)
• Gym stipend

Many of these kinds of perks are being offered by your competitors. While we know you can’t offer everything, you may want to consider focusing on one or two “perks” that reflect your own values and those of the candidates you want to attract.

8. Support Work/Life Alignment

You want your employees to love their jobs and find meaning in what they do. And you also want them to enjoy their lives outside of work, too. When these two things come together, you get happy, productive employees who bring the best parts of their personal life to work, and vice versa.

How can you encourage work/life alignment?

We’ve already talked about identifying your company values and communicating them through your brand. This will help you find the right employees, whose values align with your company’s. It’s also important to support your employees with the resources they need to do their jobs successfully — without burnout.

Make sure you regularly check in with your employees — ask about their workloads and also about how they’re doing personally. Building strong relationships with employees and being flexible when needed can help buffer the ebb and flow of workplace stress.

9. Provide Flexible Work Options

This recommendation is linked to the previous one, but it’s worth mentioning separately.

One positive thing to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic? Many companies are recognizing that their employees are just as capable of producing quality work from home as they are from an office.

If and when your company returns to a more normal work structure, remember the successes of the global work-from-home experiment. If things worked well overall, consider continuing to provide flexible work options for your employees who need them. Work with each employee to find a balance of working from home or in the office to complement his/her personal situation and productivity.

10. Help Employees Level Up

Most companies will look to hire someone new when there’s a gap in skills or personnel to fill a particular need. But with a little training and support, you may already have the right people on staff.

Show your confidence in your employees by giving them the opportunity to “level up” — to gain essential skills and step into a larger role. This helps them feel more invested in your company (and it saves you money, too).

Prospective employees will see this as an opportunity to grow at your company over the long term.

Enhance Your Company by Enhancing the Employee Experience

A company is only as good as its people. Taking these key steps will help you attract and retain top notch employees by enhancing the employee experience at your company.

Not sure how to start? Get in touch and we can help.