Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development research suggests that over a third of all workers aim to leave their current employment once the recession has subsided and the job market has been re-ignited.

For the retail industry, which employ around 11% of the UK workforce, this could leave an unwieldy bill of more than £6.93 billion over the next year.

Retail, in particular, is noted by the CIPD as amongst the industry sectors with the highest levels of staff turnover. With the average cost for replacing staff estimated by the CIPD at over £6,000, rising to £9,000 for senior managers, the time to look after your valued staff is most definitely now, before there is an exodus of departures within your business.

Using reward and recognition is a powerful way to ensure that your staff feel valued. Whilst a cautious approach has been necessary in this area over the last year from both a financial and PR perspective, now is the time to begin re-introducing appropriate performance incentives. It is an investment where the overall cost will quite easily be less than the financial investment.

While the recession has presented a distinct set of challenges for HR and marketing departments aiming to engage staff towards working their way out of these difficult times, it is important to expect a shift in objectives over the coming year as the economy stablilises and workers build confidence about their prospects of alternative employment.

The answer is to create an employee engagement culture that can be become the cause of envy. With this, top performers will recognise that they are already in the best place and will not not be so easily tempted away by competitve offers. Failing to confront employee retention issues now could prove very costy indeed.

Image: Robinsonsmay