Your ag company’s bottom line has always been important but cost-control has arguably never been more important than it is today. As you think about ways to control costs while positioning your business to succeed, don’t forget to focus on employee retention. Retaining great people has a significant impact on your bottom line and can help your business remain not just competitive, but profitable, as well. 

Why Retention Matters To Your Bottom Line  

Here are five ways employee retention positively impacts your bottom line:  

1. You’ll save time and money: 

Every hour you spend finding and training a new employee cuts into your bottom line. It is much more cost-effective over the long-term to retain employees who have experience and knowledge.  

2. Productivity increases when retention is high:

New employees can take months to ramp up to full productivity. When you maintain a stable workforce, productivity remains high.  

3. Employee retention leads to customer retention:

Customers and clients know when employees leave. In fact, some customers will follow employees to a new company. Every time you lose a team member, you lose consistency in service delivery. High retention keeps customer relationships strong.  

4. High retention means higher morale:

When you have a high turnover, it can cause chaos on a team. Employees must pick up the slack when a job goes unfilled which leads to higher stress and frustration, and ultimately more turnover. When teams remain consistent, morale tends to be higher and thus, productivity can remain strong.  

5. When retention is high, recruiting is easier.

Even if your retention rates are high, you will still need to hire employees as your company evolves. Companies that boast high retention rates and happy employees find it much easier to recruit top talent. This leads to cost savings, time savings and higher overall output. 

Tips For Retention-Focused Recruiting  

Your hiring process directly impacts retention rates.  You can hire well-aligned employees with staying power by focusing on: 

• Company culture: Talk about culture in your job descriptions and throughout the hiring process so employees can determine whether your work environment meshes with their priorities and preferences.   
• Career planning: Talented people want opportunities to grow. Talk to candidates about your training and development opportunities so they can envision themselves growing their careers over time.  
• Talk about expectations: Hiring managers typically spend most of their time talking to candidates about job duties rather than expectations. Duties are important, but be clear about what is expected of a new employee. Misaligned expectations are one of the biggest reasons why employees leave within the first year.  
• Trust but verify. Don’t take candidates at their word on their skills and experience. Leverage background checks, skill assessments and make the most of reference checks to verify that a candidate is right for your team.  

If you are looking for highly motivated sales and marketing talent for your ag business, contact the agricultural industry staffing experts at Morris Bixby Group. Our proven strategies for success can help you achieve your recruiting and retention goals quickly and efficiently.