Employees are the lifeblood of your company, delivering products, services, growth, and profits — that is, as long as they stay in your employ. Employee churn is one of the most expensive problems a business can incur. The cost of finding replacements, onboarding, and shifting your workflows in order to accommodate the loss can be precipitously large, even with advance warning. This is especially true for small businesses: the wrong worker leaving at the wrong time can bring your company’s operations to a screeching halt. Let’s see which benefits can help decrease employee churn.
While some employee departures are unavoidable, you have the power to convince those who are on the edge. Ultimately, all workers want to work for companies that value them, and there’s no better way to show your employees how important they are to you than with the right benefits package.
Even so, not all benefits are created equally. Here are the ones that can help you maximize employee retention and minimize churn:
- Retirement Plans
More than ever, workers of all ages want to know that their employers are helping to secure them a financially healthy future. 2020 showed people just how precarious salaries, employment, investments, and even savings can be. Because of that, they’ll want concrete steps from you to increase their fiscal stability. While it may seem complex or expensive at first, there are a number of different small business 401k and IRA options out there that can help you provide these services at minimal cost to your business.
Setting up accounts for your workers that include annual employer-matched contributions is the baseline, but it would never hurt to go the extra mile in providing for your team. Consider offering investment and financial literacy courses for your employees so that they can make the most of the retirement accounts you’re creating for them. If your workers can tell you’re really looking out for their well being — not just checking boxes — they’ll be more inclined to stick around for the long haul.
- Culture and Tradition
Not all benefits need to be something that gets reflected in the balance sheet. Employees want all of the benefits listed above, but they also want to be a part of a cohesive and welcoming workforce. Culture-building traditions such as weekly team lunches or annual retreats may not feel monumental, but they can make a big difference in ensuring long-term loyalty among your team members.
- Health Insurance
Depending on the size of your business, there’s a good chance you’re already used to providing health insurance to your employees — that doesn’t mean your job is done, though. Have you made your insurance plans available to all of your workers, including contractors, freelancers, and part-time employees? Do they have options in which plan they choose, and have you opted for an insurance provider that makes the administration process easy for them?
Questions like these can go on and on, but it’s easy to find answers if you pose them straight to your team. Figure out what they like about their current healthcare plans and what they think could be improved. It’s no wonder that 56% of employees say that their employee-sponsored health coverage plays a major role in determining whether they stay in their current position or not — if you care for your team’s health, they’ll know you care for them in general.
- Tenure Benefits
One of the most effective methods of decreasing churn is by explicitly encouraging employee loyalty through tenure benefits. The most common is, of course, salary increases, but you should make extra effort to directly tie salary to the amount of time an employee has worked at your business. Consider charting out a clear salary schedule during the hiring process so that all new employees know exactly what the benefits of long-term loyalty are.
Consider extending tenure-based factors to any of the other benefits listed here: larger employer-matched retirement contributions, premium health insurance plans, a flexible benefits option, or whatever else you think your workers would value. Don’t want your employees to leave? Give them tangible reasons to stick around.
- Flexible Working Options
While remote work hasn’t worked out perfectly for all businesses and all employees, it has provided workers with a level of flexibility and convenience many are unwilling to part with. While you needn’t keep your business fully remote for everyone, be open to the working formats proposed by your employees. Not everyone is perfectly suited to the typical 9 to 5 day, and long commutes can be dealbreakers for even the most battle-hardened workers.
Create a business model that allows workers to thrive, no matter what working format they prefer. One of the biggest reasons workers bail on their employers is inflexibility on their part of the latter, and in this day and age, another company will be willing to provide remote working options if you aren’t. Some 42% of workers say that if their employer doesn’t continue to offer flexible work, they’ll quit and find somewhere else that does — make sure that your business is on the right side of that equation.
- Education and Training
If a worker is going to stick with your business for the long run, you’ll need to give them the resources they need to develop and grow. No worker wants long-term stagnation in their career, but opportunities for education and training while staying in the workforce aren’t always easy to come by. Give your workers the tools they need to grow by helping them get the education they want.
Whether it means night courses at a local university or modules online, consider offering both the money and time necessary for your workers to get the education they want. If your employees want to learn, make it easy for them — you benefit from the further education of your employees just as much as they do.
It may not seem like it, but a huge portion of employee churn is up to you. Create a workplace that employees want to work at — it’s as simple as that. Deploy the right benefits in the right places, and enjoy the benefits of your workers’ steadfast support.
