The majority (67%) of SME business leaders find it difficult to hire qualified members of staff or retain existing talent, research by Aldermore reveals.
A survey of 1,008 decision-makers found that 26% were concerned with keeping good members of staff, while 20% reported problems with high turnover.
Employee retention has become a greater concern over the past year for some business owners, as 29% reported an increase in staff leaving their business compared to 12 months ago.
The research suggests that most business leaders are taking steps to tackle this, as 76% SMEs recognise they need to make an effort to avoid employee churn and keep their best staff.
The most commonly used methods for retaining talent included:
- providing a healthy work/life balance (28%)
- flexible working opportunities (26%)
- relevant training (23%).
Quote from Nigel Holland:
“It is important for companies to hire and retain the best staff possible, this will give them a huge advantage over their competitors. Having high quality staff can benefit the business in ways such as making it more productive and gaining a good reputation. SME’s should try and find ways in which they can keep these types of well valued staff, one of which includes making the workplace and enjoyable and attractive place to work. This will help to not only retain their staff, but also make it appeal to more and more potential employees.
Ways in which SME’s can attract and retain their employees include providing training and support, making them feel of value to the business, providing them with opportunities and rewards etc.
Making an employee feel of value to the business will help to keep them satisfied in their position and make them feel wanted, thus increasing the chances of them staying within the business. Offering opportunities and rewards gives the employee something to work towards and therefore encourages them to work harder, thus increasing productivity within the workplace.
Not only will this help to retain current staff, but it will also help to attract qualified members of staff as these types of people will most likely want to move up in the business and be promoted.”