Employee turnover in India was 15.8% in 2018, according to a report published by HR consultancy firm Aon. With such high attrition rates, employee retention needs to be more than a KPI for your HR department.
Employee turnover can spell huge costs for a company. In fact, the cost of hiring is only the tip of the iceberg. There are training and onboarding costs. Added, is a loss in productivity. After all, an employee who has been in the organization for more than six months is far more productive than one who joined a month back. And, then there is knowledge loss and lowered morale.
The Cost of Employee Turnover
According to a CAP report, the average cost of employee turnover for organizations is:
- 16% of annual salary for low-paying jobs. For employees earning ₹3.6L per annum, the turnover cost is ₹57,600.
- 20% for midrange positions. For employees earning ₹7.2L per annum, the cost is ₹144,000.
- More than 200% for high executive positions. For employees earning ₹18L per annum, the turnover cost is a whopping ₹36L.
What Companies Can Do to Increase Employee Retention
Did you know India has been offering the largest salary hikes in Asia? In 2018, salaries in India rose 9%, versus Asia’s average of 5.4%. The trend is expected to continue in 2019, with the salary hike estimate for India at 10% and that for Asia at 5.6%, according to a report by management consulting firm Korn Ferry.
What companies need to recognize is that salary hikes are not the most compelling or cost-effective way of improving employee retention rates. Here are some suggestions to increase employee retention:
Takeover Mundane Repetitive tasks: Several employees say that they feel frustrated when their work involves repetitive and mundane tasks.
Why not use technology to handle these tasks? In every work day, there are numerous such tasks like handling meetings, deliveries, booking conference rooms, booking travel etc which should not be taking too much mind space of any employee. Unfortunately, even though our personal lives are full of on-demand mobile apps that help us through these activities, the office environment still depends on the age-old systems. Let’s learn with an example. Say, as basic an activity like managing visitors. Even today a majority of offices use a dull looking logbook & an uninterested receptionist that facilitates the whole process. Employee friendly offices are now shifting to apps like Veris- a visitor management system to make it way more convenient for employees and give them the experience that they are used to in their personal space- to truly make them feel at home! Much more than a visitor log software, it comes with a host of amazing features. For instance, if an employee wishes to set up meetings with some clients, they can pre-register their guests on the Veris app, send them automatic SMS-based invites that include GPS coordinates to your office. No time wasted in coordinating! The employee gets instant notifications when the visitors arrive. The Veris visitor management system can also send bulk invitations for events and ensure super-fast visitor registration.
Using smart technology to eliminate mundane and repetitive tasks can save a lot of time for your employees. They can use this time to do more productive work, help achieve their monthly targets and even invest time in learning and skill enhancement. Such things have a huge impact on job satisfaction and help companies to lower their employee attrition rates.
Let your office talk: Several studies have shown a direct correlation between healthy internal communication and employee retention. Gone are the days when internal communication was one-sided restricted to townhalls, posters & webinars. Today organisations are expected to not only create occasions but also platforms for the employees to talk to each other. Workplace by facebook, Slack, Alexa for business etc have picked up strongly in the west and gaining quick traction in Indian offices too.
Virtual Assistants: Today 62% of organisations feel that virtual assistants will be a part of their process by 2020. These companies are gearing up and using artificial intelligence to gain deeper insights on employee asks. For instance like Spoke, Obie etc are building an ever-evolving repository of functional questions that are now made available to employees in a chatbot-like interface. Employees today are disgruntled with paperwork and obstacles to completing tasks quickly. With advanced technology solutions, companies can live up to the digital, solutions-based mindset of their employees.
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