According to Gallup, 51% of employees are looking for a new job, and 68% of employees believe they are overqualified for the job they have. Even engaged employees are job hunting at an alarming rate—37%. Employees surveyed said they want to do what they do best, while maintaining a good work-life balance.

Providing perks is nice, and can encourage retention, although, providing an assortment of standout perks alone won’t keep employees long-term – unless, however, those perks meet essential employee needs.

Therefore, we’ve compiled the best tips on how to retain employees and meet their needs. Above all, remember why they became your employees, to begin with—they have wants and needs, and employment with your business enables them to meet those wants and needs.

Meeting both the employee and employer needs creates a solid basis for long-term collaboration and shared success. Here’s how to do this:

1. Open the floor to discussion with your employees about what knowledge, skills, and resources they think would help them do their job better or make additional contributions to the organization. By involving employees in the discussions and decisions made about what trainings they receive, you help them gain a sense of ownership over their work.

 

2. Provide coaching and training opportunities that bring value to your organization and the professional development of your employees. Certifications may make your workers more employable elsewhere, but it prepares them for a better future working for you. You can increase the likelihood that your employees will use the training they receive for your benefit by giving them opportunities to put what they’ve learned to use and rewarding them when the new skills and extra effort pays off.

 

3. Involve employees in organization initiatives that make use of their training or teach them new ones. Not only will this help prevent their jobs from becoming too monotonous, but they will also gain valuable experience and form a connection to the organization that goes beyond job duties.

 

4. Make work meaningful and highlight the good that your organization and employees do. This is especially important if the job duties of an employee feel mundane or uninspiring. If you’re compensating someone to do a job, that job is essential to the mission of your organization. And that mission has value. Make sure employees know that their tasks, however repetitive or unexciting, matters.

 

5. Show your appreciation and gratitude. Recognize workers for a job well done when they accomplish goals. This goes without saying but people want to feel appreciated, that they’re important, and that they’re involved in valuable work. You can help fulfill these wants and needs.

 

6. Encourage social interactions among workers. While money might be the primary reason people get jobs, it’s not the only People tend to seek social connections and enjoy interacting with others on a daily basis. They like doing things with other people, and the workplace can be a great place to make friends, build community, and collaborate on a meaningful enterprise.

 

7. Offer bonuses when your company meets its financial goals and when employees meet their individual and team goals. It’s important to motivate your people to be more engaged and productive. By rewarding hard-working employees with a tangible return on their investment, you are investing in your most important assets, your people.

 

8. If feasible, offer raises to account for cost-of-living increases, job performance, and individual accomplishments. Like bonuses, raises encourage efficient and productive work by rewarding it. If you’re unable to offer substantial raises or bonuses, the non-monetary rewards mentioned or bonuses above become all the more useful and important.

There’s no guarantee that every hire will be the right fit and stay with your company as long as you’d like, but you can help improve retention and meet employee needs—to cut down on its costs—by remaining useful to your employees.

Your employees want to succeed in their professions as much as you do in your business. By aligning their individual success and skill set with your organizational success, you give them a huge incentive to stay, improve their skills, and put their strengths to good use in your organization.