The digital marketing industry was born with the internet. It changed the working world dramatically and digital marketing continues to develop at break-neck speed. Employees attitudes to work have also changed. Baby Boomers were content to start a career path with a company for life. Millennials are more likely to switch jobs, and or careers to stay relevant and perhaps pursue the notion that “…if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” It is also worth noting that in a digital marketing environment the average age of employees is below 30 with transience higher than any other industry.

With these challenges in mind below is a list of 5 ways to keep employees happy in the workplace and reduce your turnover in the digital marketing industry.

Employees want to do a job that energises them and plays to their strengths, even if this involves taking a sideways move or demotion. Managers can help by ensuring employees have the freedom and creativity they need to be effective in their jobs. In a digital industry there has to be a willingness to recognise technology is the only way forward and remove rigid IT policies which can often prohibit innovation. No employee wants to hear those dreaded words “Well that’s what the job is” when they have expressed feelings of boredom or constraint.

Retaining employees should also be the forefront of any advertising campaign. When you have good employees, they will only want to work with other good employees. Many employers design a role and then look for someone to fit the specification. A more effective strategy would be to find a talented person and build the job around them. This approach demonstrates trust, keeps staff motivated, happy and more inclined to stay.

Employees want to know their efforts are appreciated. This can take the form of praise, bonuses and promotions. When people are rewarded for their hard work, they feel cared for and likely to stay in a role where growth is encouraged. In successful companies like Netflix, employees are offered a stake in the business. People care more about a company where they have a vested interest and will work harder for it, creating a happier workforce.

Always offer opportunities for personal development and training in a digital world. New trends are in constant motion and competition is intense. When you help employees keep their skillsets up-to-date they are more likely to stay, especially if it includes external certification in line with growing market changes. Staff also appreciate access to training that provides transferable skills to develop existing or pursue new careers within the company. Where an employer can facilitate a safe space to explore a different career path, staff are less likely to leave and take valuable knowledge elsewhere. A comprehensive training programme should give staff all the tools they need to be effective, unlike ‘on the job training’ which can be sporadic and incomplete.

Managers need to create a positive corporate culture. New employees arrive with fresh eyes and will pick up on a toxic environment quickly. Millennials in particular are attracted to businesses that reflect their own values. Give back to your community, embrace and encourage opportunities for staff to socialise and switch off from work. Close friendships and working relationships lead to happier staff. Pay attention to how workloads are designed, create clear intentions.

Even those people who love their jobs don’t want to spend every waking hour doing them. No employee wants to work in an environment where the office culture forces them to work long hours and not take sick leave. Everyone works better after a break and no-one wants to work with people who should be off sick recuperating. Incentives to show you care can extend to sabbaticals, flexible working hours, early Friday finishes, working at home once a week. California’s Clif Bar & Company has a gym onsite and gives its employees time to use it.

Understandably you may be thinking about the cost implications of implementing some of these strategies and that’s a good thing. It’s not about whether you can afford to adopt these methods, but if you can afford not to. Finding the right person to join your organisation is time consuming and may involve redirecting precious resources to recruit. If this highly trained professional then leaves, it will again be a costly process to find a replacement.

Make smaller changes, but make the changes, in the long-term it will be worth it.