How to retain employees even if you can’t meet average salaries in your industry

Despite popular belief, attracting and retaining top talent doesn’t always come down to offering the highest salaries on the market. For many businesses on a tight hiring budget, securing the best professionals is all about providing employees with a balanced, positive, and flexible working environment.

Here are some of the proven employee retention techniques that you can utilise even if your average salary benchmark is lower than the industry standard.

Focus on creating a positive work culture

A positive working environment is vitally important today, especially for younger employees entering the workforce. In fact, 50% of millennials say that the most important factor when choosing a new employer is that the organisation has a strong culture and a good reputation.

For employers, fostering a positive environment means adopting an ‘open-door’ policy where communication and the free exchange of ideas are encouraged. Developing initiatives for recognition, team-building, and wellbeing are also crucial to creating a welcoming and cohesive team atmosphere for employees.

Offer flexible working conditions

A healthy work-life balance is important to a huge 95% of employees, according to a recent study by PwC. Similarly, workers want the ability to take advantage of new technological capabilities to work from anywhere, at any time.

As such, providing the opportunity for employees to work flexibly (by working remotely or working flexible hours, for example) serves as a major non-financial drawcard for many professionals.

Provide opportunities for progression

According to the same study by PwC, career progression is the number one consideration for younger candidates when searching for employment, coming ahead of a competitive salary in second place. Candidates are also looking for assurance that they will have the ability to build their skill set through on-the-job learning and mentoring.

With this in mind, businesses (especially those that aren’t able to offer competitive salaries) must provide a defined framework for training and upskilling of employees to not only attract new talent but also retain existing workers.

Implement a system of recognition & reward

Employees in any industry want to feel that their work is worthwhile and that their contributions to the business are being recognised. In fact, the 2017 Trends in Global Employee Engagement report found that reward and recognition initiatives provide organisations in the APAC region the greatest opportunity to engage employees – over and above financial incentives.

Businesses that aren’t able to offer recognition in the form of generous salaries should instead look to initiatives like employee awards and bonuses for quantifiable achievements (rather than blanket pay rises) to assure employees that their work is valued.

Want to find talent that’s ready to commit to your company long-term? Get in touch with our recruitment consultants.