5 Ways to Keep Your Employees

• Paula West
• December 23, 2021
• Newsletter Article

When employees feel they have no room to grow in their current work environments, they look for new opportunities. Consider setting up a path of success for your employees. Allow them to provide you with their goals within the company and work along with them as to how they are going to get that promotion or to take part in specific tasks that really interest them.

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Cultivating loyalty in employees

 

The AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review 2021-2022 data release reported that employee turnover was over 20% in both Canada and the United States. Replacing employees can take on average 3-8 weeks. Training those new employees comes with a financial cost. Imagine reducing those costs and turnover rate by keeping your employees engaged, supported, and feeling like they are cared for as individuals. Below are five tips to practice keeping your turnover rate low.

 

1. Education reimbursement

Ensure that you invest in your employees. By providing the opportunity for your employees to expand their knowledge and increase your company's overall expertise.

In the Agribusiness Benefits Survey, produced by AgCareers.com, two-thirds of companies in the United States and Canada provide tuition reimbursement. This survey is available upon request and can help provide you with common industry practices.

 

2. Volunteer opportunities

Allowing your employees time to volunteer in the community shows that you as the employer and that the company, overall, cares about the community. Many companies allow for four hours a year. These hours need to be approved by management. Your company can use this time to bring your team together. Volunteering also permits your employees to gain skills they may not get from their normal day-to-day work duties.

Some of our favorite examples of volunteering as a company are:

• Take your employees to the local food bank to assist with distribution or sorting
• Prepare meals for families at a Ronald McDonald house
• Take part as a team in a local charity event

 

3. Respect vacation time

When your employees are on vacation, it is important to respect their time to rest from work. Encourage them to turn off from work and do not respond to emails. Encourage the entire team to respect the time that an individual is on holiday; let them know it is corporate practice to allow those on vacation time or paid time off (PTO) to rest. As the employer, set an example that it is NOT appropriate to expect responses from employees when away from work. Yes, sometimes certain roles and responsibilities may be required during their time off. This should only result from an emergency, and the time interrupted should be replaced or compensated.

 

4. Team building fun

Team-building activities are not outdated. When you provide your teams and employees the opportunities to collaborate and have fun aside from work specific tasks, you provide them an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge about how each person works, what they are good at and a time to smile and laugh together. These activities help build a healthy workplace culture and remind your employees that they love working for your company.

If your team works remotely, schedule a 30-minute team call biweekly to allow everyone to say hi to each other, share some personal updates, and connect with each other as they would if they were in the break room at the office. There are many ways for an employer to provide their employees in some social fun that does not involve leaving the office. For example, a simple putting competition on Tuesdays. Employees take a few minutes of their day to try to make the put. Co-workers gather around and take part on some level. This gives employees time to smile and laugh with each other and, depending on the size of the firm, to meet employees from other departments or groups. It is the old team building efforts that have been lost in some companies. These activities were always networking, and an invitation to show others who you are away from your desk.

 

5. Clear path to growth within your company

When employees feel they have no room to grow in their current work environments, they look for new opportunities. Consider setting up a path of success for your employees. Allow them to provide you with their goals within the company and work along with them as to how they are going to get that promotion or to take part in specific tasks that really interest them. By allowing your employees the opportunity to communicate with you what direction they would like their career to grow to.

 

AgCareers.com has several tools that you can use to help keep your employees engaged; and they are available to access on our website. We have a dedicated Employer Resource Library, a Compensation Benchmark Review, and an Agribusiness HR Review, created from companies like yours in the agricultural industry.