Employee Retention - Role of Leaders

Employee retention and leadership practices go hand-in-hand. A leader is more important than a manager for any organization. It is up to the senior leadership to set the tone for the company culture, either good or bad leadership practices, which could lead to good or bad culture. A good culture binds the talented employees, whereas, a lousy culture tends to drive away the most talented employees.

Employers must understand their workers’ mindset to create effective retention strategies that will help keep their top talent around year after year.

An effective leader does the following −

• Connects the role of employees with the team goals
• Helps in building relationships with employees
• Helps the employees to come up with ideas
• Makes the team open, engaging and cohesive

Role of Leaders in Employee Retention

The role played by a leader in employee retention is very important than the role played by a manager. Employee retention includes various steps taken to satisfy the employees so that they stay with the organization for a longer duration.

It is essential to retain the talented employees who are loyal towards the organization and can contribute effectively. Strong measures must be taken to retain the high potential employees who have spent a good amount of time in the organization and know it in and out.

It is the responsibility of the team leader to ensure that the team members are contented with their work and share a good rapport amongst themselves. An employee quits his job whenever he faces problems at the workplace and is not satisfied with his work. The job must be challenging enough and the employees should learn something new every day for them to stick to it for a long time.

Following are the roles and responsibilities of the leaders in employee retention −

• It is the responsibility of the team leader to notice the hard work of the team member and should be appreciated for their performance. The top performers of the organization must be motivated with a special treatment and the result obtained will be the same from them every time.

• Every employee should be treated equally. The rules and regulations should be same for every employee. It is better to avoid partiality and granting special favor to anyone.

• The work assignments to the team members must be as per their qualification, specialization, interests as well as experience. The team members must enjoy their work and should find their job interesting for achieving the organization goals.

• Every employee should have the accessibility to their team leader, whenever they are in need. The team members get demotivated, if their queries remain unsolved and there is no one to listen to them. If the team leader does not have time for his/her team members, the employees crib among themselves and wish to move on to other organizations.

• It is the responsibility of the team leader to distribute the work equally among all the members of the team. The leader of the team, should be always partial to anyone and equally treat all his/her team members. An employee who is overburdened will never finds his/her job interesting and would always prefer to change his/her job.

• The leader of the team should be a role model for his/her team members. None of the employee should fear of his/her boss. In the present scenario, Hitler approach will not work. The team leader should allow the team members to participate in decision making of any process. Team leaders should never be arrogant and never misuse of their position.

• The leaders should maintain transparency in communication with their employees. The way of communication should satisfy the employees, which will make the employees remain loyal towards the organization.

It is the responsibility of the team leader to bind his/her team members together. The team leader must promote healthy competition at the workplace. The work environment should be good to work for a longer duration of time, which helps in employee retention. So, every individual expects peace at the workplace and looks for a change only when there is unnecessary stress at work.