Employee Retention in 2022 – 5 Actionable HR Trends

Hiring new talent is only half of what will make your company more successful. Once the honeymoon period is over, certain employees might have second thoughts about how well they fit into your company. This can lead to high turnover and the necessity to attract talent again from scratch.

According to Harvard Business Review, turnover is mostly present with younger employees, however, resignation rates increased by 20% from 2020 to 2021. As the data suggests, employees in the 25-30-year range experienced the highest turnover citing high workloads and constant pressure as main motivators.

Employee retention doesn’t have to be difficult, as you can take certain steps and implement company policies that will address this proactively. This will lead to better company loyalty and higher productivity for your employees. Let’s discuss some actionable HR trends which you can implement in 2022 to boost employee retention and keep talented individuals in your company for longer.

The Importance of Employee Retention for your Business

Employee retention is closely related to employee engagement. Employee engagement represents the measures and processes you’ve created to keep your employees happy with their current job positions. This can be anything from professional development, coaching, or even team-building activities, as we’ll discuss.

According to Forbes, employees who are engaged are 59% less likely to quit, with 92% stating they’d retain their current jobs if managers showed more empathy. The human factor plays a big role in whether employees will want to stay on board or seek another job while still employed by you.

For many, monetary compensation isn’t the top priority and they want more out of their employment if they’re to contribute to your employee retention. Why should you focus your efforts on keeping employees satisfied instead of being content with high turnover rates?

• Improved morale, productivity, and engagement for your staff
• Reduced production errors, conflicts, and downtime
• Healthier office environment and business culture
• Improved job experiences due to an inviting, inclusive work culture
• More efficient development of new skills and competencies
• Leadership grooming opportunities due to longer employee retention
• Reduced costs for attaining new employees (marketing, onboarding, etc.)

Actionable HR Trends to Consider Implementing in 2022

1. Use a Professional Job Listings Platform to Acquire Talent

What many employers fail to understand is that employee retention starts from hiring and onboarding. The way you write your job listings and present your company to cold candidates will say a lot about your business. Using a professional platform to achieve that is the first step to success with finding the right talent and retaining it.

There is a wide range of values for employers/recruiters to consider when it comes to posting job listings on a reliable, curated platform. By avoiding channels like social media or investing in PPC, you will not only save precious resources but also find candidates more closely related to your industry. This alone will incentivize many to stay with your company for longer and help them fit into the existing office structure and culture.

2. Systematic, Organized Onboarding Process

Once you acquire new talent, either locally or from abroad, you will have to get them up to speed on your internal processes and workflow. This is an essential part of retention in which employees will get to see exactly what kind of a company you are running.

Onboarding should always be done systematically and your existing staff can guide new employees through the motions. Don’t leave a bad first impression by lacking hardware, software, or office space for newly-hired employees. Also, have a clear idea of what they will do once they start working so there is no dead motion present. Combined, these will help you create an inviting environment in which employee retention will be more than an abstract goal.

3. Personal Employee Coaching and Assistance

New employees will often need some time to adjust to your business and they might fall off in the first few months. Don’t let this happen and implement coaching and assistance systems into your onboarding on time. This is especially important if you hire international employees who are coming to your country from abroad. They will need even more help to adjust not only to their new job position but also to their new lives in a different country.

Talk to your senior staff members and look for ways to pair senior and junior employees to help one another. This is a good way to work on your internal coaching if you don’t have a dedicated HR department in the company. Coaching can help employees set personal goals and let them talk about whatever is bothering them in a safe and controlled environment. Employee retention will become a

4. Explore Options for Professional Development

One of the best ways to retain talented employees in your company is by offering some form of professional development to them. Professional development is high on people’s list of priorities when thinking about whether or not to look for new job opportunities.

According to Fit Small Business, 60% of employees place professional learning and development among their top priorities, with the highest turnover (33%) happening with first-year employees. You can subvert this by creating development channels for your employees preemptively. Look for professional conferences, seminars, and events you can acquire for your employees.

Online learning courses, industry literature, and other materials can also be purchased and distributed on a department-by-department basis. If you enable employees to learn while working for you, they will be far more likely to stay loyal and not look for work elsewhere.

5. Work on Improving your Business Culture

The business culture you cultivate will play a major role in your employee retention rates. Fostering a toxic environment that doesn’t tolerate differences of opinion or gender equality is a bad choice, especially in 2022.

By cultivating an inclusive, teamwork-oriented business culture instead, you will retain talent far more easily. Moreover, professionals from around the world are likely to seek employment on your staff even without you explicitly posting job listings. Business culture is an essential part of what makes a successful business tick, and your employee retention will reflect your efforts on that front very clearly.

Hiring and Retaining Top Talent in 2022

There is always a bit more you can do when it comes to employee retention in your company. For example, giving pregnant mothers extra free days when they’re feeling under the weather will work wonders for your staff. Not only will you retain employees for longer, but you will be seen as a friendly, familial business by third-party stakeholders.

This will open new avenues for your business to grow and expand, all while retaining valuable staff members organically. Start hiring and retaining top talent in 2022 as early as today and begin cultivating their experience in your company from day one.