Dealing with employee turnover is stressful, but changes such as working from home during COVID have changed what many employees expect from their workplace.

Retaining hardworking, skilled employees is essential. These are the people who will enable your business to thrive. Still, with these talented individuals, they will often have opportunities to find a new job if their current place offers very little support and benefits. 

So, to improve employee retention and encourage your best employees to stick around, you’ll want to implement new initiatives that support flexibility, a living wage, and more.

This guide provides some specific tips to help improve your company’s employee retention.

• Support Parents With Initiatives They Want

It’s common for new mothers specifically to have to quit or change jobs after their children are born. In fact, 43% of women leave the workforce within three months of childbirth. So, if you don’t want to lose the talented women in your workforce, you may need to make some adjustments to your company’s policies.

To start with, consider implementing better maternity and parental leave. Most parents want generous paid parental leave with the option to extend the unpaid leave even longer. But, beyond this, another way to support new parents is to work with existing organizations such as The Lactation Network, whose lactation support program boosts post-maternity leave retention from 59% to 92%.

This statistic is huge for HR as it almost guarantees your employee will stay with the company after parental leave.

• Offer Flexibility

Having the ability to work from home or have a flex schedule is attractive to many employees. If your business mostly moved to a work-from-home model during the height of COVID, people may be frustrated if they are required to work full-time in the office again. 

Instead, giving options is ideal and more likely to keep your employees from going somewhere else that does offer flexibility. This is one of the best ways to boost retention, especially as the landscape of work has changed. 

• Provide Promotions And Raises

One study found that nearly half of employees feel there is no room for them to grow or progress at their current company. And, eventually, employees who feel this way are going to look for new jobs. 

Most people want to move forward in their careers, so promoting from within will help with employee retention and appreciation. It’s also essential to provide raises, both for great work and for commitment. At the very least, providing a cost of living raise will keep your employees from feeling like they need to switch to a new job just to make enough money. 

It’s much easier and more cost-effective to keep your current employees, especially those who have a proven track record, than to find new ones to replace them. So, you’re unlikely to regret giving raises and promoting your team members. 

• Offer Professional Education Options

While the occasional employee might not want to invest in their careers, the majority of them do. And, if you provide them with opportunities to grow in their role, they will likely take them. Whether providing a stipend meant for books and courses or paying for travel to professional conferences, these benefits go the extra mile. 

They will help employees feel more fulfilled in their jobs. And, you’ll get the added benefit of employees who are continuing to learn about their job and their field. This means it’s a worthwhile investment all around. 

Overall, solving your employees’ specific problems with specialized solutions will help them feel more fulfilled and appreciated.