Your employees are leaving your company in droves. What can you do to keep them?

1 The causes of employee turnover

There are many factors that can influence your employees' decision to stay or leave your company. Some of them are external, such as the labor market, the industry, or the economy. Others are internal, such as the organizational culture, the leadership style, the compensation, or the career opportunities. However, one of the most important and often overlooked factors is the quality of your internal communications. How well do you communicate your vision, values, goals, expectations, feedback, and recognition to your employees? How well do you listen to their needs, concerns, ideas, and feedback? How well do you foster a sense of belonging, trust, and collaboration among your employees?

2 The benefits of effective internal communications

Effective internal communications can have a positive impact on employee retention and engagement, with highly engaged employees being 59% less likely to look for a job elsewhere in the next 12 months. To achieve this, you should align your employees with your mission, vision, and values, while providing them with timely, relevant, and transparent information and feedback. Additionally, you should empower your employees to make informed decisions and take ownership of their work. Recognizing their achievements and contributions can help build their trust, loyalty, and satisfaction. Furthermore, encouraging creativity, innovation, and problem-solving can enhance collaboration, teamwork, and social support while reducing stress, confusion, and frustration.

4 The challenges of internal communications

Having effective internal communications can bring many advantages to your organization, but it can also face some challenges. Leadership support and involvement, resources and budget, skills and training, feedback and measurement, trust and openness, alignment and coordination, and diversity and inclusion are all common issues that can impede success. Without these elements in place, it can be difficult to achieve the desired outcomes.

5 The solutions to internal communications challenges

To improve internal communications, it is important to secure leadership support and involvement. Allocating resources and budget is also a key step, as well as providing internal communicators and managers with the necessary tools, guidance, and best practices. Additionally, collecting feedback and measurement through surveys, polls, analytics, or focus groups is essential to assess effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. Moreover, it is important to foster trust and openness by creating a culture of transparency and accountability. Alignment and coordination should also be established by establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and processes for internal communications. Lastly, promoting diversity and inclusion by respecting, valuing, and celebrating differences among employees is essential to ensure that internal communications are inclusive, accessible, and representative.