How Can You Retain Your Most Talented Employees in 2022?
Employee retention strategies are likely to be a critical concern for many construction companies in 2022. Why? There are three primary reasons for this:
- The construction industry is expected to be ‘very busy’ in 2022.
- The industry is still suffering from a skills shortage (Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has found that 72% of firms expect skills shortages to be among this year’s biggest challenges).
- The ‘Great Resignation’ is expected to continue to direct workers’ employment choices, with one-in-four planning on quitting this year.
More business. More difficult to attract talented employees. A quarter of your workforce considering leaving. Not a great mix for the future of your business. Which is why employee retention is going to be crucial.
The fewer employees who quit your company, the better placed you’ll be to take advantage of new business opportunities, and the lower your recruitment costs will be.
The question is, how can you be more effective with your retention strategies? And how do you fill the gaps if any of your top employees do move on?
Here are seven employee retention strategies that will help to develop enviable employee engagement and loyalty:
1. Provide Personalized Support
The most important thing is to ensure that you are offering a personalized, supportive service to your employees. Understanding their individual needs, mental health issues, and supporting their career development will help you retain the best employees.
2. Set Up Mentorship Programs
Mentorship programs are a way to support self-development, provide new challenges, advance careers, and improve variety of work. And these programs provide benefits to both mentees and mentors ─ they can help mentors stay fresh and have a better understanding of what their mentees need.
3. Have a Serious Conversation About Salary Levels
Salary remains a major contributory factor for employees leaving their employers. To attract and retain the best talent, it is important to have a serious conversation about salary levels. The goal of this conversation should be to ensure that compensation is aligned with the market and individual performance.
4. Offer More Flexible Working
Many workers have now experienced working from home, and they enjoy it. Working remotely ─ at least part of the time ─ helps to improve work/life balance, reducing stress and improving mental health. Many studies also conclude that it increases employee productivity.
5. Regular One-to-Ones
Regular one-to-ones are a crucial tactic to enhance employee retention. They give managers the opportunity to stay connected with their employees, and for any issues they may have to be raised. They also provide an excellent opportunity to reinforce company values and purpose, discuss career progression, and demonstrate (and realize) the potential for self-development through a personalized approach.
6. Understand Your Workforce
To improve employee retention, it’s important to understand why your current employees work for you, and to appreciate why it is that people quit your company. This helps you identify what you can do to prevent people from leaving your company, and to create a better company culture, which will lead to higher productivity retention rates.
7. Invest in Technology
Investing in construction technology is not just about buying the latest gadgets. It helps you to remain competitive, provide better customer service, more accurate data, and increased productivity. It is also an investment in your people. It demonstrates that you are a modern, innovative company, and that you are invested in providing the best tools that enable your employees to do their jobs effectively and successfully.
What Do You Do If an Employee Does Leave?
By executing all the above strategies, you should improve employee retention and productivity, reducing costs and delivering more effective customer service. But no retention strategy can guarantee that a key employee won’t leave. Therefore, it is good practice to have a back-up plan.
By strategizing for the best and being prepared for the worst, you will take any employee defections in your stride, without disruption to your business or existing (and future) construction projects.
Here at Pivot Workforce, we are completely focused on helping our clients through the complexities of sourcing, qualifying, and hiring the best construction and ConTech employees. We specialize in providing specialized and highly skilled construction professionals.
Whether your need is to fill for short-term skills gaps, hire specific skills for specific projects, or to hire full-time employees, our services will help you maintain your competitive advantage and deliver more effective employee retention to your business. For a confidential conversation about your hiring needs in 2022 and beyond, contact Pivot Workforce.