Top 7 retention strategies for remote employees

Companies everywhere are discovering the benefits of hiring hybrid workforces or full-time remote workers, and globally, more employees than ever are sharing their enthusiasm for remote opportunities. A recent Career Pulse survey found that most participants (65%) wanted to work full-time from home or another remote setting. 

The benefits of remote work are clear. From more time with family to workplace flexibility, remote work makes for happy employees. It’s not all flowers and rainbows, but this type of work can result in a revolving door and lost revenue. 

Employee retention is crucial for businesses looking to capitalize on the remote trend. The ramifications of poor retention are clear, with employee turnover rates in the professional sector hitting a whopping 60% in 2022.

Fortunately, there are several remote employee retention strategies companies can employ to promote employee loyalty throughout their employment tenure. 

This article will discuss seven best practices to improve remote employee retention. By following these tips, businesses can ensure their remote workers remain engaged, committed, and productive. Read on to learn more.

Why Is Remote Employee Retention Important?

Retaining remote employees is a critical factor in the success of any business. Due to the choice of remote work options available, it can be easier and more accessible for employees to quit remote jobs when unhappy. A lack of enthusiasm from workers is costly and can equate to a 34% pay cut or $3,400 for every $10,000 of their salary. By decreasing voluntary turnover in your business, you will:

• Cut down recruitment costs by preserving existing time and resources invested in hiring and training 
• Demonstrate current employees’ loyalty to the organization by keeping them on board 
• Reap the benefits of their prior experiences and learning opportunities 
• Retain valuable skills and knowledge that they have built up over time 
• Maintain productivity levels by minimizing disruption from unfilled positions 
• Enhance relationships among team members for improved efficiency within the company 
• Promote a positive image from employee satisfaction with working conditions

In particular, for US businesses looking to hire from a candidate pool of local and nearshore workers, having an employee retention program is even more critical when dealing with remote talent. 

The inherent challenges presented with remote work, such as lack of face-to-face meetings, reduced social interactions, and even the need for office space, need to be counteracted with effective employee retention strategies to ensure stability in your workforce.

We’ve done the homework for you and assembled seven key components to improve the turnover within your company.

1. Develop a Unified Employee Engagement Strategy

Creating a unified employee engagement strategy is vital to improving remote employee retention. This strategy should encompass all aspects of the working experience, from recruitment and orientation to training and development. 

It's essential to ensure that you prevent employee burnout by providing them with the necessary tools, resources, support, employee benefits, and incentives that allow them to do their job effectively. Additionally, consider investing in meaningful interactions and measures such as:

• Regular check-ins with direct managers or team members
• Virtual social events
• Flexible work schedules
• Career advancement programs
• Recognition schemes
• Performance reviews
• Employee engagement surveys

Viewing the company from your workers' eyes will foster an environment of collaboration, resulting in engaged employees, no matter their level of experience. 

A delightful employee experience also contributes to a positive employer brand, making your company an employer of choice for future recruiting efforts, and giving you an advantage over companies that don’t use these tactics. 

2. Create a Seamless Remote Onboarding Process

Creating a seamless onboarding and hiring process is essential for remote employee retention. To ensure this, businesses should focus on the cultural side of their company by providing new hires with an employee handbook and all the necessary documents, such as those outlining the company mission, vision, and role expectations. 

It’s also always advisable to have milestones with which to gauge progress, such as a 30-60-90 day plan where expectations are laid out for where each worker should be by that stage of time.

This can be achieved through slides or other briefs highlighting how their work contributes to the organization's goals and progress that should be made over time. Additionally, organizations should outline potential career paths for employees to understand where they may grow within the company. 

Finally, arrange “time” blocks dedicated to each topic during onboarding with short breaks in between. Having manuals ready to deliver to the new hires will further streamline this process and set up their remote work environment more efficiently.

3. Communicate With Remote Team Members Often

Clear, kind, and effective communication with your work-from-home employees is vital to increasing employee happiness. Here are some practical ideas for communication you can implement in your business:

• Create an online break room. This is a safe space where employees can chat and connect or even hold online happy hours (after work) is a great way to keep remote teams engaged. This virtual room allows employees to get to know one another, build relationships, and foster team spirit.
• Arrange company-wide on-site meetings at least once a year. This enables everyone in the organization–both local and remote–to come together face-to-face, helping strengthen bonds between team leaders and teammates who may not otherwise interact as much due to their distance apart. 
• Adopt a one-on-one approach. This is an excellent opportunity for employers to provide guidance, clarify expectations and goals, and help employees develop professionally. Additionally, feedback should always be given with kindness, and constructive criticism should never be delivered harshly or without consideration; this is a sign of poor management. 
• Normalize daily meetings with remote team members.  This will ensure everyone remains current on the progress and maintains open lines of communication. 
• Offer virtual team-building activities.  These events are great collaboration tools, encouraging employees to interact while having fun—such experiences allow teams to get creative together and build stronger relationships within the group. These can also impact employee recognition if you use these as opportunities to reward great work.

By incorporating these strategies, you will create an environment your LatAm remote workers won’t want to leave!

4. Adopt a Robust Remote Work Culture

Creating a solid remote work culture is essential for businesses looking to hire Latin American talent for remote workers. Here are some strategies you can incorporate to beef up your company culture efforts.

• Hold regular remote-first meetings
• Promote transparency by allowing employees to track their progress toward promotion goals
• Offer personalized analytics-driven wellness assistance
• Maintain flexibility and work-life balance by giving employees the freedom to set their own working hours
• Allow workers the autonomy they need to meet both professional and personal obligations without sacrificing the quality or productivity of work output
• Provide the necessary office supplies for them to do their jobs well, including ergonomic chairs to promote health and wellness

When implemented correctly, these measures can result in higher job satisfaction and, ultimately, better employee retention.

5. Foster Professional Development

Encouraging professional growth helps boost employee morale and ensures that they continuously learn and develop new skills. Employers should set clear performance goals and create mentorship programs for remote workers so that they can receive guidance from more experienced staff members. 

Additionally, employers should provide opportunities for career development to their remote teams by offering them chances to take on new responsibilities or enroll in more advanced skill training courses, workshops, or seminars relevant to their job role. 

Bosses can offer tuition reimbursement programs or even provide avenues for employees to obtain additional certifications or qualifications. 

Allowing employees the opportunity to learn new skills benefits their career growth and gives them a sense of accomplishment and pride. In turn, this encourages critical thinking and helps keep them invested in their work. 

Finally, recognition plays a vital role in employee retention; businesses should ensure that people who take advantage of employee development opportunities are rewarded accordingly with bonuses or other forms of appreciation.

6. Provide Relevant and Creative Compensation

Compensation is one of the most critical factors in the labor market, particularly when retaining remote employees. More and more US organizations are looking to hire Latin American talent, which is typically cheaper than US talent by at least 30%. Looking to creative solutions like nearshoring, business leaders can benchmark the most cost-effective solutions by considering the market price to pay competitively with packages that reward their employees for their hard work and dedication. 

It's essential to ensure remote workers receive the same pay rate as their on-site counterparts. Moreover, you should ensure that your compensation packages remain up-to-date and aligned with industry standards for the specific role. 

While perks such as additional vacation days, health insurance, or employee discounts are at the discretion of management, these benefits provide a competitive advantage. They can help define whether an employee chooses to stay with your company. Additionally, regular performance reviews should be conducted and used to address compensation transparently. 

Adopting competitive compensation into your business model will ensure that your remote teams feel adequately rewarded for their efforts and are more likely to stay with your organization in the long term.

7. Provide a Flexible Remote Workplace

The more flexible your remote workplace is, the more incentive you give your Latin American employees to stay with you. A flexible schedule gives your workers the autonomy they desire while still feeling connected and valued. 

The key for business owners is to provide an environment that promotes employee productivity, creativity, and collaboration. Here are some of the best ways to do this::

• Encourage flexible office hours. Allow for shifts that accommodate your employees' personal lives, allowing them to find the most appropriate time for uninterrupted work.
• Focus on performance, not working hours. Prioritize results over rigid schedules.  
• Offer an environment that boosts productivity. Research shows that providing autonomy increases job satisfaction and performance. According to the Gartner 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey, nearly 50% of those surveyed stated that having flexible working hours enabled them to be more productive.
• Provide work-life balance opportunities with remote work. Studies demonstrate that this improves overall happiness among employees, with a whopping 85% reporting improved work-life balance and 81% reporting a positive effect on mental health.
• Foster loyalty by offering flexibility. When people can continue working from different locations, they stay more engaged. 
• Keep employees when they move. Make sure to build a diverse company culture attractive to remote foreign employees.
• Appeal to Millennials, Gen Zs, and upcoming generations of workers. Consider the values of workers across different generations—millennials and Gen Zs are more likely to stay with a remote job with flexible hours and conditions.
• Attract individuals interested in long-term commitments. Allowing for a better work/life balance makes them eager to stay with the company for years. 
• Make it easier for employees to cater to family commitments. By providing more flexible arrangements, you make it comfortable for them to start or expand their family without leaving their job.
• Employ an employee assistance program to help employees deal with personal issues that may be affecting their productivity or job satisfaction

As businesses look to LatAm talent for remote workers, it is crucial to create a flexible workplace that allows talented employees to work in an environment that works best for them.

Do You Need To Work on Your Remote Employee Retention?

Businesses looking to hire nearshore talent as remote workers can significantly improve employee retention rates by developing a unified employee engagement strategy and often communicating with remote team members. 

Providing flexible work options is also vital; having clear policies that enable employees to balance work with personal commitments will help ensure job satisfaction and loyalty. 

At Near, we offer businesses the opportunity to efficiently find, hire and retain highly skilled, pre-vetted English-speaking talent from Latin America. With our help, you can expedite the process of onboarding remote workers and providing them with a flexible workplace in under three weeks. 

Near can provide you with all the tools needed to facilitate a thriving remote team environment. Why not sign up for a complimentary LatAm recruiting consultation to learn how your business could leverage Nearshore outsourcing as a competitive advantage in the hiring market.