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All you need to know about staff retention
Staff recruitment and retention are seen as some of the biggest challenges faced in the education sector at present. But how can you ensure your staff stay?
The 2022 Teacher Wellbeing Index, conducted by Education Support in conjunction with YouGov, has found that stress levels have increased when compared to 2021. Staff working in education also continue to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety than those reported in the general population. In the survey of 3,082 education professionals, some key findings are as follows:
59% of staff have considered leaving the sector in the past academic year due to pressures on their mental health and wellbeing (67% of senior leaders, 59% of teachers)
55% of staff have actively sought to change or leave their current jobs (58% of senior leaders, 53% of teachers)
68% of staff cited volume of workload as the main reason for thinking about leaving their jobs (83% of senior leaders, 66% of teachers)
75% of all staff are stressed (84% of senior leaders, 72% of teachers)
This also chimes with our MAT Leaders’ Survey Report 2022 which found that 75% of staff were stressed whilst highlighting challenges with workload and stress which may exacerbate recruitment and retention challenges in the future.
So, what can you do to improve your staff retention rates?
Implement a Retention Strategy
A retention strategy seeks to reduce staff turnover and increase staff retention. A retention strategy can be created at a pace to suit your school or college, and should continuously evolve and be adjusted as necessary.
Understand the reasons why your people stay and leave
Undertaking exit interviews or asking leavers to complete exit questionnaires will help you to understand the reasons for moving on. Likewise, conducting staff surveys whereby your employees can provide anonymous feedback. From these learnings, you can address any issues by creating action points which will ultimately benefit your employees.
Prioritise Development and Feedback
Acknowledge the contribution of your employees by giving regular performance feedback. Appraisals and reviews are used to understand the goals and aspirations of your employees and allow you to form objectives which help your staff to achieve their ambitions. Formal training, job shadowing, mentoring or networking opportunities are examples of ways you can help to develop your employees; if employees keen to progress feel that there is no room for growth, they have a tendance to move elsewhere.
Look at Employee Engagement
Take employee engagement seriously by regularly reviewing pay, conditions, workload, CPD and learning opportunities. This will ensure your employees contributions and motivations are acknowledged and rewarded. If your employees feel that their contributions are overlooked, they will seek this acknowledgement elsewhere.
Review Recruitment
By selecting the right people for the right jobs and making sure onboarding and induction effective are some of the ways you can get recruitment right. This helps your new employees to settle in to your school and their new role, understand the culture and feel accepted.
Review Organisational Culture
The vision and values of your organisation should be communicated to your employees so they understand how they contribute towards it. Working with your employees and creating a space which encourages and welcomes ideas for improvement will give your employees a sense of purpose and value which contributes to your overall aims and objectives.
Implement Health and Wellbeing Initiatives
Employees within education regularly cite stress and workload as main reasons for leaving. Understanding these reasons and implementing effective health and wellbeing initiatives can be an effective way of improving staff retention. Examples of these initiatives could include improving the working environment or incorporating staff wellbeing days.
Find out more…
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EduPeople is an HR, payroll and pension system that helps you with the delivery of your people strategy, from recruitment to retention.
Get in touch to find out more on 0330 123 2549 or at edupeople@strictlyeducation.co.uk we are happy to answer your questions. Alternatively, book an EduPeople discovery call to discuss your challenges.
