If you are an independent insurance agent, you know that you cannot do everything by yourself. You need to find solid employees who can handle clerical work, keep your clients happy, and free up your time to focus on other areas. At the same time, there is a lot of competition for the best employees, so what do you need to do if you want to increase your employee retention rates? Learn more about how to retain good employees below, and do not hesitate to reach out to a professional who can help you.
Why Employee Retention Is Important
Before diving into how you can retain your best employees, you need to know why this is important. Some of the biggest reasons why you should care about employee retention include:
- Avoid Recruiting and Hiring Expenses: You may not realize just how much money you spend on recruiting and hiring every year. If you are looking for a way to reduce your overhead expenses and increase your profit margins, you should keep your best employees around. That way, you don’t have to spend as much money recruiting and hiring new employees.
- Boost Your Productivity: If you can increase your employee retention rate, you can also boost your productivity. If you need to hire new employees, you will have to spend a lot of time and money training them. Furthermore, new employees are not going to be as productive as experienced ones, which can hurt your business. If you want to keep your productivity levels high, focus on retaining your best employees.
- Increase Employee Morale and Teamwork: Your office probably works the best when your employees help one another. You need to foster teamwork, and it is difficult to do that if there are new faces in the office all the time. Once your employees get to know one another, they will be more amenable to helping each other out. By boosting your retention rates, you can keep employee morale high and foster better teamwork.
Now that you understand why it is important to retain your employees, it is critical to focus on how to boost your retention rates. If you are wondering how to retain good employees, what are a few important strategies you should employ?
1. Perform Exit Interviews
Even though you probably want all of your employees to stick around (as long as they are productive), some are bound to leave. Before an employee walks out the door for the last time, you should perform exit interviews. An exit interview is an opportunity for you to get an employee’s perspective of your business. Then, you can use that information to improve your company.
Take note of some of the most common reasons why your employees are leaving. A few examples include:
- Their spouse may have got another job somewhere else, causing them to move.
- Your benefits package might not be competitive with other companies in the industry.
- There might not be opportunities for advancement.
- They might want to spend more time with their children, and they could be shifting to a stay-at-home position.
- They might not like the culture in your office.
- They could be at retirement age.
Not all of these factors are within your control, but you have to control the ones that are. You must learn more about why your employees are leaving, and that is why exit interviews are critical.
2. Offer Health and Wellness Benefits
Work-life balance is more important today than it has ever been in the past. You may want to take a look at some unique health and wellness benefits you can offer. You might even want to tie these into your health insurance offerings.
For example, you may want to reach out to a local gym to see if you can set up a partnership with them. Or, you might want to reach out to a local mental health office to see if you can establish a discount program for your employees. If you think outside the box and provide exceptional health and wellness benefits, your employees will be more likely to stick around. In addition, if you go the extra mile to take care of the mental and physical health of your employees, health insurance companies might offer you a discount.
3. Have Strong Communication Channels
There are lots of businesses that have made the shift to remote work. If you have done the same thing, you probably understand just how important communication is in the current environment. Regardless of whether your employees are remote or on-site, you must make sure they communicate effectively with one another. That way, any questions and concerns can be addressed as quickly as possible.
If you make it easy to provide timely answers to your employees, and you make it easy for your employees to stay in touch with one another, you can create a positive company culture. Your employees will know where to go when they need help, and they can make sure that everyone is on the same page as the project moves forward. Your employees will feel more fulfilled in their work. Then, your employees will be more inclined to stick around.
4. Increase the Paid Time Off You Give Your Employees
Another measure you can take to show the importance of work-life balance is to give them more time off. You need to pay close attention to the average amount of PTO other businesses in your industry offer. Even though you must provide a competitive salary, paid time off is just as important.
Furthermore, you should try to be flexible with your PTO arrangement. For example, you might want to have a policy where you give your employees their birthday off every year. Or, you might want to step up to cover the duties of some of your employees if they need to take time off for their child’s music concert or sporting event. Going the extra mile to show your employees that you care about their well-being can significantly boost your retention rates and reduce your hiring expenses.
5. Acknowledge Employees Who Go the Extra Mile Properly
Finally, you must make sure you acknowledge all of your employees’ accomplishments, both big and small. Saying “thank you” can go a long way, but when one of your employees goes above and beyond, make sure you reward them properly.
For example, if one of your employees is willing to stay late to finish a project, consider providing them with some extra compensation, even if they are salaried. Or, if one of your employees covers the duties of another employee who is on vacation, consider giving them a bonus. If you go the extra mile to let your employees know that they are appreciated, they will be more inclined to stick around.
Reach Out To American Agents Alliance Today To Learn More
Keeping your best employees is important, and if you follow these tips, you can do exactly that. We are the American Agents Alliance, and we offer numerous resources to help you run an effective insurance business. Contact us today to learn more.
