The cost of turnover in the United States is $1 trillion each year. Yes, you read that correctly. A trillion dollars—which means a trillion reasons for businesses to put staff retention first.

You might be wondering why the cost of turnover is so high. Well, there are a variety of expenses to account for when workers leave a firm, including:

The cost of replacing the employee in terms of both time and money (including onboarding and recruitment of new talent).
Low morale of employees who are left behind.
Productivity loss throughout the recruiting and onboarding process
Loss of expertise and corporate knowledge for your firm.

According to Gallup, replacing an employee might cost anywhere from one-half to two times the person's yearly compensation. On the other hand, companies that retain their staff for extended periods of time can easily benefit from rewards that go beyond the expenses of recruiting and training.

Retention of employees leads to:

Improved client service.
Continuity and momentum within teams and throughout the organization.
A more positive corporate culture that supports employee engagement.

Companies can also improve their recruitment process to grow their teams when engagement is high, and turnover is low. In other words, it's to your company's best advantage to look after your current workforce and employ strategies that increase retention and engagement wherever possible.

If you are looking for ways employers can enhance retention rates, read on!

1. Give More Positive Feedback

We all know that workers need both positive and constructive feedback to develop their skills and perform at their best.

But what is the perfect proportion? According to Harvard Business Review research, the best ratio of negative to positive ideas is 1 (corrective) and 5.6 (positive).

Employees should get positive feedback on a regular basis to keep them motivated and determined to produce their best work. However, constructive and corrective criticism is also vital, especially when a problem needs to be addressed urgently.

As time goes on, become more mindful of how many negative remarks you make to your staff against how many good ones you make. Increase the number of positive comments to six for every bad remark.

2. Take Better Care of Their Health

There are many ways to incorporate protocols that ensure your employees are healthier. Two of the most common complaints that employees have when they work at the desk all day are weight gain and body aches.

So, you can make sure that your employees have an ergonomic cubicle that helps them combat these health issues. We recommend getting standing desks for your employees. Just standing for a few extra hours at work each day can allow them to break free from the sedentary lifestyle. It can help them burn calories and do an excellent job of relieving pressure from the backbone, neck, and shoulders. This is quite beneficial for your employees in the long run.

The Pro Standing Desk has a dual motor that can quietly and easily lift or lower the desk with a push of a button. It is adjustable to any height, so you can accommodate employees of all heights with a uniform type of desk. It also has a pretty stylish surface made of natural wood that gives the office a natural aesthetic, making it more pleasant to work in.

There is also another ergonomic furniture like office chairs that your employees can use for better back support. These ergonomic chairs are designed to be breathable with a mesh back that can keep your employees cool and comfortable as they work.

It can help you improve employee retention rate if your workforce knows that you care for their wellbeing and physical health.

3. Encourage Employee Innovation

Many businesses claim to embrace innovation, yet they lack the right programs or protocols to foster it.

Google, for example, offers a 20% initiative that allows staff to work on independent projects that they are interested in.

We recommend the following strategies for boosting innovation in your workforce:

Provide incentives.
Consider employee recommendations seriously to promote them. Employees that make a tangible contribution should be appreciated and rewarded.
Not every employee would be comfortable with sharing their ideas in a group format. So, managers should provide opportunities for both private and public suggestions.
Assemble a group of people who volunteer to work on new ideas. These are small groups of people entrusted with coming up with creative solutions to a particular problem.
Demonstrate how important creativity and innovation are to your company. Encourage people to take calculated risks and try out new things.
Hire a diverse group of individuals to promote sharing of new ideas and different perspectives.
Have a good time. Create an atmosphere that encourages creativity and spontaneity in the workplace.

Offer your staff half an hour of creative time this week to brainstorm ideas and concentrate on finding solutions for a problem that affects them. You can offer them the opportunity to work on projects that they are interested in.

Allowing a member of the team to manage the restaurant's social media, for example, could be one such side project.

4. Provide Growth Opportunities for Your Employees

Many businesses choose to hire skilled individuals instead of providing continuous training and workshops to their current employees for their growth.

Employees get disappointed with their jobs and are less inclined to stay as they realize the lack of opportunities to progress or improve.

Continuous training helps workers feel appreciated and offers them something to look forward to. Your employees will feel valued and realize that they're an important part of the company's success. A clear route for promotion is also a motivating factor for your workforce.

You may offer significant incentives for your team members to stay with the company in the long haul by developing a training program and offering them tools and resources (such as seminars, books, online courses and videos, and so on) to build useful skills.

These activities are seen by employees as a commitment to their future.

5. Better Pay

The cost of replacing staff is quite high. So, while it may be difficult to offer competitive wages when finances are limited and budgets are tight, simply replacing an entry-level employee can cost anywhere from 30% to 50% of his yearly income. Your business doesn't need this extra expense, which will further increase as you go through the onboarding and training protocols.

On the other hand, employees often discover that just transferring from one company to another can offer them a 10 to 20% income rise. This makes abandoning ship rather appealing, especially if they haven't received an appraisal in a while.

6. Provide Benefits

Small firms often find it difficult to compete with bigger organizations in terms of employee benefits. While you don't have to compete with a large company in healthcare, you can always provide benefits that people won't find anywhere else. These include convenient vacation choices, flexibility to work from home, and performance incentives.

7. Provide Unique Rewards

Offering bonuses that customers couldn't get anywhere else is another way firms may succeed without spending a fortune. Silicon Valley is known for its free lunches and sleep pods, but you can boost employee retention by implementing different incentives. Give free VIP tickets to unique events or exclusive discounts at local stores to improve your employee retention.

8. Obtain Your Employees' Trust

Workers are more productive when they have faith in their bosses and managers. When your workforce trusts you to have their back, they will be more devoted to performing to the best of their abilities and attaining the objectives set for them.

Studies show that 86% of employees consider a lack of honest communication as the leading cause of workplace failures. In the meanwhile, high functioning workplaces contain at least 79% of engaged workers with faith in their leaders.

There's a strong possibility that people don't trust you as much as you believe they do, especially if your company hasn't created an employee engagement program.

This program is vital as it can help create personal ties, promote honesty and transparency, inspire your team members, offer credit and carry responsibility, avoid partiality, and display competency in your workspace. It can do wonders to build greater trust with your workers.

9. Take Action Based On the Results of Exit Polls

It's impossible to prevent some employee turnover. Regardless of whether you have a high or low turnover rate, you can learn a lot from employees who choose to leave your company.

Exit surveys are a great way to receive direct feedback from your ex-employees about why they chose to leave and if they have any recommendations for improvement of your firm. What you discover in these feedback forms will surprise you.

These 9 tips for retaining employees can help you decrease costs in the long run. They do a good job of keeping the staff happier, and thus, more productive. Companies need to tackle turnover rates before they add up to become a high cost for your business.