Company Culture 3 Hacks to Boost Employee Retention

It’s been on the minds of hiring managers everywhere in the last year: how can I keep my employees around longer? Employees, as we all know, are the lifeblood of industry, and without them literally the entire planet is doomed. Especially as younger generations seek out more mission-driven organizations, new challenges, and a hybrid work lifestyle, companies are finding it harder to keep their precious workers around. These 3 hacks will help any business boost retention and thus, profit.

1) Adopt a fluid company culture.

Companies often find themselves with a set culture, and hope to attract employees that want to fit in. But, more and more, the workforce is composed of people with varying interests, opinions, and desires in their workplace. If companies want to survive, they must match that energy. Conducting regular employee surveys will help get a sense of how the company culture can continually evolve. 

Missandra Leovy, Head of HR at J.P. Morgan, shared this great tip: “During an individual’s interview, promise them exactly the culture you think they’d want regardless of what you have. Once they are hired it doesn’t really matter, because they won’t want to restart the job hunt for at least a little while and depend on the money you give them to live.” 

2) Promote mental wellness efforts.

Employees take jobs to work for money, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t people. It only sort of means that. People sadly have yet to break free from the shackles of emotion, so require tending to when things get stressful—and we’ve all seen how stressful quarterly reviews, coding sprints, and heavy workloads can be! 

This means companies need to double-down on letting people know they are devoted to employee wellness. Start out with an internal campaign: put up motivational posters, send out a email with a linked blog post about mental health, and put healthy snacks in the break room.

Next up is where the hard work really starts: external campaigns. Invest heavily in social media campaigns to let folks know the company cares. Following that, partner with a celebrity to let folks know the company cares. Then, produce a Superbowl As featuring a diverse group of employees laughing in the break room. To let folks know the company cares.

Then just subsidize a subscription to meditation app or something; the employees’ll figure their shit out eventually.

3) Get doors that lock from the outside.

At its core, employee retention isn’t really about keeping them happy, or creating a company that attracts enthusiastic candidates—it’s about having doors that lock from the outside. Employees have everything they need in the office: a bathroom, a chair and desk, and healthy vegan jerky alternatives in the break room (shoutout wellness!). 

A recent Gartner survey found a stunning statistic: 92% of in-office employees that leave their companies exit through the doors. A few isolated window incidents aside, that shows how dire the door situation is. With a little elbow grease, a locksmith’s number, and a few hundred bucks, any company can ensure complete retention by simply locking the doors once the employees are inside.