Thought Leadership

Secrets Revealed: The 3 Pillars of Employee Retention Success

As a business leader, you understand that your employees are invaluable to your success.

But building and maintaining a strong workforce goes beyond talent acquisition. Employee retention is just as critical to your bottom line.

So what can you do to retain top talent, even in a competitive job market?

For this blog post, I spoke with Jaime Pullin, Director of Talent Strategy for Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. She explained the three pillars of employee retention.

But first, let’s dive into why it’s so important to prioritize retention.

Why Is Employee Retention So Important?

Employee retention is crucial for businesses across all industries and sectors around the world. In fact, according to Gallagher’s 2023 U.S. Organizational Wellbeing Report, employee retention has become the foremost priority for operations at 51 percent and human resources (HR) at 66 percent.

Why does employee retention matter so much? Here are three benefits to employee retention.

Cost Savings

We all know how time-consuming and costly employee turnover is, with replacement costs ranging from one-half to two times an employee’s salary.

Keeping an employee on the payroll is far less costly than running through all the hoops of hiring.

Steady Productivity and Efficiency

Becoming efficient, proficient, and productive in a specific position takes time. Each new hire needs time to get up to speed and to acquire the same performance levels and productivity as their predecessors. Therefore, employee retention helps you avoid the loss in productivity while training new hires.

Competitive Advantage

Businesses with low turnover often have a competitive edge in their industry, making it far easier to attract, attain, and retain future talent.

3 Keys to Employee Retention

As you can see, there are many advantages to employee retention. Your remaining question is likely, “How do I ensure employee retention in challenging times?”

According to Pullin, the three pillars of employee retention are:

  • People
  • Rewards and recognition
  • Culture

Let’s take a closer look at these must-haves for employee retention.

People

Hiring the right people, for the right work, is critical to retention. It’s not just about retaining your new hires but retaining all workers.

Pullin often asks Evergreen team members why they’re still at Insight Global. She gets the same answers from everyone. “They tell me how much they love the people they work with. They love what this company stands for. They love the work they’re doing.”

Employees want to feel connected to their daily work, but they also want to feel connected to each other and their employer. Pullin put it this way.

“You need to remember that your employees are human. And humans just want to feel valued for the work they’re doing. They want to feel purpose in their work. They want to work with people who share common values. At Insight Global, we hire people who are aligned with our shared values. And our values, if you break them down, are really about being a good human.”

"You need to remember that your employees are human. And humans just want to feel valued for the work they’re doing. They want to feel purpose in their work. They want to work with people who share common values." -Jaime Pullin, Director of Talent Strategy for Evergreen

A people-first strategy isn’t just about how you hire people. It’s also about how you manage your people. This starts with getting to know your people.

“Who are they as humans? What are they great at? What do they struggle with? What is their natural aptitude? What are their interests?” Pullin said. “By taking the time to connect with your people, you accomplish two critical things. First, you learn new ways to develop your people. You can’t really upskill them and help them fulfill their potential if you don’t know them first. Second, you discover opportunities to apply their skills to the business.”

Another part of managing people is recognizing them and their achievements.

Rewards and Recognition

“People want to know that the work they do matters. People come in every day and work hard. They want to know that their work is appreciated and that their work is making an impact on the business,” Pullin said.

Recognizing your people doesn’t need to take a lot of time or money. “Don’t forget the power of a handwritten card,” Pullin suggested. Here are some other ideas:

  • Online shoutouts via email or internal messaging boards
  • Social media spotlights
  • Monthly or quarterly recognition programs
  • An extra day of paid time off (PTO)
  • A gift card

Of course, if your company does have the budget, you can incentivize employees by offering big rewards, like bonuses or trips, to employees who earn the highest company awards.

Rewards and recognition make people feel good about their work, but they also incentivize employees to continue to do good work. And by reinforcing the behaviors you want to see in the workplace, you develop a good team culture.

Or, as Tim Kuppler, Culture Solutions Director for Evergreen, once said, “Results are the feedback loop that determines what ends up in our culture.”

Team Culture

Culture is shared behaviors, norms, and values.

But to understand why team culture matters to employee retention, you first need to understand the impact of culture. World-renowned culture expert Ed Schein wrote, “Businesses don’t exist to have a great culture. They exist to serve their purpose and their culture either helps or hurts their ability to do so.”

While overall company culture impacts retention, team culture plays a significant role in employee satisfaction and retention. A strong team culture is a core pillar of retention because it:

  • Instills a sense of belonging among employees, so everyone feels like they can be their authentic selves in the workplace
  • Promotes collaboration and accountability
  • Inspires employees to feel aligned with the company’s mission and values
  • Facilitates creative problem-solving
  • Supports open and trusting relationships among co-workers

All of these benefits lead to increased employee retention.

Boost Employee Retention

Ultimately, the best way to improve employee retention is to create a workplace where people want to be there. “Life is already hard enough,” Pullin said. “Why not build an organization where we can be a positive part of people’s experiences?”

And if you need a Talent Services partner, industry-leading retention rates are just part of the value offered by Evergreen. We build and manage elite teams with high levels of productivity, engagement, and retention.

Learn more about Pullin here and connect with her on LinkedIn.