In the current economic situation, this may be a good question. With the unemployment rate, 3.8% (www.ons.gov.uk), at its the lowest since 1974, this might be a good question; I think there might be a better one. I believe every organisation should be asking themselves how much it would cost to lose ambitious, motivated and valued talent. Companies are aware that a “job-for-life” doesn’t exist anymore, offering financial incentives and drive for diversity is stronger than ever before.
Employee retention should be a top agenda of every HR department because its not only good for the company’s profitability but also will cultivate a positive culture, increase morale and productivity.
But let’s go back to the cost of finding new losing a team member. There are various scenarios and cases, but the general rule of thumb seems to be that replacing ab employee on a senior level would cost the company three times their average salary (www.peopley.co.uk). It is a mind-blowing number, and this doesn’t include dips in productivity, impact on the employer brand equity and business resilience as well as the potential loss in client relationships—sobering and eye-watering facts.
In many cases, these situations are predictable and easily avoidable at a much lower cost. Let’s look at the ways how organisations can cut the cost of negative employee turnover in the company.
Here are some solutions for keeping high-performing and valuable team members.
- Building a compelling and supportive culture is always a winning solution, as culture is hard to replicate. Bringing the human factor into the workplace, understanding employees’ life outside their work and the impact that might have on their choice of the workplace.
- Creating unique policies. Cookie-cutter policies no longer work but offer an upper hand over the competition, i.e. shared or “gender blind” parental leave.
- Providing desirable benefits and rewards. A gym membership might be desirable for some but on-site creche might help with employee childcare problems.
Losing talent is expensive, whichever way you look at it. Losing female talent is even harder on companies budget and brand reputation.
The above solutions are more cost and time effective than finding new candidates. These will also help to attract diverse talents in the long run.
I see them as an investment rather than a cost and if done well can drive companies to the top of the “Best company to work for” chart.
Book a call to arrange a meeting to discuss how you can cut the cost of losing diverse talent.