Four Sure Ways You’re Sabotaging Employee Retention In Your Company

Losing valued employees is a series of butt-hurt for any company—from painstakingly going through the recruitment process again to getting egos bruised for being inadequate to their needs. If employees calling it quits is happening too often or you’re foreseeing a growing issue, it is best to identify any erroneous practices that your company might be doing.

Though there is a high hiring rate in the Philippines in the last quarter in 2016, the number of employees quitting or being laid off are also on the rise. On average, out of 1000 employees in Metro Manila, 104 are separating from the company, which is the highest turnover rate in the past five years.

The lower employee retention rate should make any company worry because it cost a lot to find a replacement. Here is a sample of what companies might spend on to find the ideal new hire:

  • -Posting on Job boards
  • -Using LinkedIn Outreach
  • -Sponsoring an event or participating in a job fair
  • -Having a Recruiter undergo the screening and hiring processes

After that, the company must also worry about the cost of onboarding and the loss of productivity while they were out looking for the replacement. All that expenses stack up to a huge cash-out from the company’s own pockets. Between keeping a valued employee or having them walk away, holding on to them is the better choice.

There is a multitude of reasons on why employees choose to resign from the company, but instead of writing an encyclopedia about each one, we chose the five most common ones. Here are the top reasons why employees leave:

Employee Retention Saboteur #1: Low Compensation

Whether to have more food on the table or to buy that dream house, finding an employer who offers more for the same position is a no-brainer. In a survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson, 70% of Filipinos leave their employers to chase after a better salary.

Needless to say, if the compensation package is not good enough, the employee is most likely not going to stay working in the company for long once a better paying option becomes available. Having money is essential to maintain or improve our current way of living, and getting more could very mean having a more comfortable life for the employee and family.

How to Fix This: Offer an enticing salary with amazing benefits package.

In a company perspective, keeping the salary to the minimal expectation seems like a great way to bring down the amount of money going out. However, in an employee perspective, seeing a low compensation package, they are most likely thinking to stay only until they find a better paying job, or not take up the offer at all. By giving them a generous salary with competitive benefits (such as health benefits for the employee and family), they wouldn’t look elsewhere and stay.

Employee Retention Saboteur #2: Stealing Their Quality Time  

Spending quality time with families and friends is becoming a factor when it comes to staying in a job or not. Especially for millennial workers who witnessed their parents spend less time with them and more on their work, employees want to stick with a job that gives them work-life balance.

If your employees are spending long hours to meet deadlines or finish payroll runs, you’re throwing the balance to one side. It might come out cheaper for the time being to have employees spend more work hours, but in the long run, they would eventually run out of gas.

How to Fix This: Invest in More Resources.

For employees who do almost twice the working hours, maybe it is time to recruit a new worker. Not only would the employee appreciate it, you would stop the employee entertaining thoughts about looking for a job elsewhere.

Also, another option is investing in tools or software applications that would make the work processes easier and faster. Tools are a great way to economize and maximize how the work is done.

Employee Retention Saboteur #3: Bad Bosses

As the saying goes, “People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses.” Even if the compensation is great or that there is a good work-life balance, bad managers could easily tip the scale in the employee’s decision whether to stay or not.

Every employee has their own idea of what makes a great boss, but the idea of what a bad boss is like is somewhat more universal. Manager or supervisors who are outright damaging, secretive, neglectful, and uninspirational tend to make employees think of quitting their jobs.

How to Fix This: Encourage Communication, Management Involvement, and Give Rewards

Many companies only evaluate non-management employees with no way for regular employees to comment or evaluate their own bosses. Encourage an open communication or survey about the areas of improvement for the bosses. This way the bosses could also adjust to bring more harmony to work.

The boss should also spend more time with the employees for coaching, and if possible, establishing a connection through one-on-one conversations. Even sending out recognitions, public pat on the back, or rewards for a job well-done would show that employees are actually valued.

Most importantly, bosses should make true on their promises, and if they couldn’t, communicate with the employees to why it didn’t work. Transparency is key to earning the trust of the employees.

Employee Retention Saboteur #4: Lack of Growth

Not everyone has the same tolerance or patience when it comes to performing the same task for months, years, or even decades. Eventually, a job that requires a lot of repetition will lose its ability to challenge or make the employee grow in skills or abilities, and that is when the employee will ask, “What else is out there for me?”

To keep any job relevant to employees, it needs to continue to teach the employee. Otherwise, he or she will grow tired of the position and move on.

How to Fix This: Promote and/or Give the Means to Grow

If the employee reached a limit on what he or she could learn from the position, let the employee show what he/she learned by teaching it to others. Promotion is great for providing new challenges and value to the employee. If promoting the employee is not possible, give him/her ways to receive new skills like paying for workshops or giving training.

Excelling in retaining and making your employees succeed in their goals should be part of any company’s goals because employees are the drivers that bring the company to success.


Need help monitoring your employee performance? We can help.

JustPayroll offers enterprise-grade payroll software, superior payroll processing services, and time and attendance biometric devices. We can create reports on employee attendances and time entries that could help detect lowered employee morale.

Discover how easy payroll can be by choosing us, simply give us a call at +63 (02) 808-4707 or fill out the form below to get in touch with our payroll customer care.


About the JustPayroll.ph Writer - Rayan Ramos

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