For many companies, the end of the year can be a much more relaxed period of the year. Demand tends to decrease, so managers can focus more on administrative tasks such as making annual reports, preparing budgets for the new year, and so on. However, as the new year starts, there comes a new problem, which is employee turnover. High employee turnover at the beginning of the year is very common. Usually, employees won’t return to work after the holidays or may work only for some time before eventually resigning. There are several strategies needed to reduce this possibility. But before getting there, let’s find out why employee turnover spikes in January and what makes employee retention crucial.
Table Of Content
- Why Employee Turnover Spikes After Christmas & New Year Holidays
- Why Employee Retention is Crucial
- 5 Effective Employee Retention Strategies
- Conclusion
Why Employee Turnover Spikes After Christmas & New Year Holidays
There are various reasons why employee turnover tends to increase in January. Some of the most common reasons are:
- higher salary
- reinvent themselves with a new role
- rest by taking a vacation
- experiences and challenges
- They have new plans such as getting married, setting up a business, etc.
- Their contract expires at the end or the beginning of the year
It is likely that your employees may have thought about getting new opportunities since the end of the year, but many companies recruit in the first quarter, and your employees probably waited until new year bonuses too.
Why Employee Retention is Crucial
Employee retention is critical because you depend on your employees to provide your service or product. When your excellent employee resigns, you’ll have to immediately find someone else with the same ability to replace them. This often takes a lot of time and money. You’ll also have to train your new employee from the start until they really understand their responsibilities.
That is why many business experts are of the opinion that recruiting new employees is far more expensive than retaining existing ones. A study proves that employers will need to spend the equivalent of six to nine months of an employee’s salary in order to find and train their replacement.
5 Effective Employee Retention Strategies
Make employee retention one of your new year’s resolutions. Here are five effective employee retention strategies you can implement to prevent staff turnover at the start of the year (and for the whole year!).
1. Give Them Recognition Through Evaluation
If you haven’t had time to evaluate your employees at the end of the year, then do it in January. Evaluation is not only a means to criticize your employees, but also to give them recognition for their achievements and contributions to your company.
2. Introduce New Benefits to Your Employees
Conduct a town hall meeting with your entire team and introduce your new benefits to them. This strategy is mandatory, especially if you haven’t had the chance to actualize your company’s promises last year. The benefits can be in the form of health insurance, bonuses, vehicles, facilities, and many more.
3. Organize New Activities / Programs
Create new activities or programs that can improve the quality of your employees, for example, leadership training, so that your employees will be more motivated to take managerial positions. You can also introduce fun activities such as sports, travel, and a lot more.
4. Increase Team Members
You will probably still have to recruit new employees, but at least you’re not going to do this to replace your existing employees. Your team members may feel overloaded by all the projects or tasks you gave them. Therefore, consider increasing team members to ease individual burdens and speed up work execution.
The recruitment process will be easier if you use the right HRIS system. EQUIP will make it easier for your HR team to manage staff candidate data, filter candidates, and carry out the onboarding process automatically.
5. Ask Your Staff for Feedback
In addition to providing input to your staff, you’re also obliged to ask them to provide constructive advice for your company (and yourself as a leader). Many employees are too nervous when asked for feedback so you can provide an online survey too.
Conclusion
It is essential to increase employee retention to keep your business operations running smoothly. This is important to note especially at the beginning of the year, due to the high rate of employee turnover. Hopefully, these tips can help you improve employee retention in your organization.
