Ron Cardenas, VP of HR in Omaha, Nebraska, Discusses Ways to Improve Employee Retention

You’ve done all your recruiting and vetting and think you’ve found the perfect person for a vacant position at your company. Even better, they’ve accepted the job! It seems like a match made in heaven, until six months or two years later when the person quits. You’re left scratching your head, thinking about how much time and energy it will take to hire someone all over again. For Ron Cardenas, a human resources professional based in Omaha, Nebraska, with 30+ years of knowledge and experience, this scenario is all too common for companies large and small – but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, in his current role, Cardenas developed and implemented employee retention strategies that reduced turnover rates by more than 50% in less than two years.

Employee retention is critical because keeping employees on the job makes things more manageable, and turnover is costly. Below, Cardenas discusses several methods managers can use to keep their best workers thriving and satisfied.

Prioritize Respect

If someone doesn’t feel respected in their work environment, they will quickly start looking elsewhere. Whether it’s toxic relationships between peers or management, dealing with inter-office politics, discrimination, uncivil behavior, or constant power plays, disrespect wears people down. It gives them a reason to throw in the towel.

Besides having policies to prevent and appropriately respond to such adverse actions, it’s important to promote respect in the workplace. This encouragement can take on many forms, such as celebrating individual wins, promoting kindness, providing support, and even running seminars about biases and unacceptable behaviors.

Give Positive Feedback

Another excellent way to encourage respect and provide support to employees is through positive feedback. Often, companies are all too quick to tell employees what they need to improve on or how they could be doing better, but they rarely spend time on what’s already going great. Sometimes a brief, simple form of recognition for a job well done can be the difference between an employee deciding to stay or go.

Positive feedback can come in many forms, both tangible and intangible. For instance, creating healthy competitions with prizes such as gift cards, gym memberships, and trips can motivate people and create opportunities to focus on the good things happening at the office. At the same time, simply remembering to tell someone nice work on a report or noticing the extra effort they put into a project goes a long way.

Provide Clear Communication

Clear and consistent communication is one of the best ways to ensure everyone is on the same page, which helps prevent confusion, frustration, and demotivation. As the pandemic has shifted how we communicate regularly, employers need to allow employees to feel heard in an organic and meaningful way.

Depending on your company’s situation, there are various ways to create a culture of clear communication. Because employees want to be a part of the decision-making process, you can conduct “town hall” meetings with breakout groups that discuss ideas and possibilities before management decides on them.

Also, having a reliable open-door policy based on respect and trust gives employees a chance to speak their minds freely. Certain team-building activities can also promote and improve communication in ways other methods cannot do.

About Ron Cardenas

Ron Cardenas is the Vice President of Human Resources at an agriculture holdings company in Omaha, Nebraska. He is a versatile HR professional with over 30 years of domestic and international experience. His track record includes creating and launching talent strategies for global organizations in varied industries.