Retaining top talent is important for any business. The costs of recruitment, training, and getting a new employee up to speed in any role is an expensive and time-consuming activity. Even when a new employee gets up to speed, there is no guarantee that they will be one of your top performers.

With the current market being flooded with jobs, coupled with a shortage of talent, it is an important time for employers to look internally and review the top talent in the business and consider how to reward and remunerate them beyond the traditional annual salary review.

Can’t I just give them a pay rise?

Although salary plays a big role in employee retention, it is not the only contributing factor. Some other contributing factors include:

  • Organisational culture – Is it a good environment to work in?
  • Recognition – Are employees being told when they’re doing a good job?
  • Flexibility – Is there any ‘give and take’ within the workplace? Can employees start later, leave earlier, or work from home to better suit their personal schedule?
  • Engagement – Are employees encouraged to make connections within the workplace, do they socialise when appropriate?
  • Other initiatives – Does the workplace have a casual workwear day, are there fruit and biscuits available, are there discounted gym memberships available?

To retain top talent, employers should diversify their reward and recognition offerings that focus on more than just salary.

How do I know what employee benefits my staff want?

While there are many ways to engage and reward staff, finding out what’s most important to staff and what they value will be essential in ensuring the success of a rewards program or initiative. For example, developing a relationship with the local gym and offering subsidised gym memberships may be suitable in some workplaces, but in others, it may have little to no effect. Developing initiatives and programs that staff won’t use will be a waste of time and money. To find out what staff value most can be quite simple. Using an online survey tool for example can be a quick and simplistic way of obtaining this information.

What questions should I be asking myself when considering employee benefits?

It is important to ensure that the benefits being offered to staff are relevant and meaningful. It is also important to ascertain whether they are viable for the business. When considering which benefits to offer, an employer should ask themselves the following questions:

  • What are the needs of current and future staff?
  • Has the pressure from other organisations to offer flexible working arrangements affected the business and its employees?
  • What benefits can the business offer staff to increase retention?
  • What benefits are viable and sustainable long-term by the business?

People tend to prefer consistency and reliability. Offering a rewards and benefits initiative or program that is long-term may be more effective for a business. However, offering short-term initiatives such as corporate massages or team lunches will ensure that staff are reminded of their efforts and don’t become complacent or ‘expect’ a reward.

Although salary reviews have an important role to play in staff retention, there are many other contributing factors that employers should keep in mind.

Check out our previous blogs, Approaching Salary Increases and Benchmarking, No Salary Increases – What Now?, and Making Flexible Working Arrangements a Success for some more information about retention strategies and salary reviews.

If you need assistance in implementing a retention strategy, or want support in salary benchmarking, get in touch with our team via the chat box here or give us a call on 08 6150 0043.

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