EMPLOYEE RETENTION

EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Employee Retention is a constant battle in today’s workforce. Keeping your most valued employees is a key challenge in many organizations today. As the recession lifts, opportunities are beginning to open up to the unemployed as well as to your staff.
Is talent being lured away from your company en masse? If so, have you ascertained the root cause of this mass migration? Unfortunately, many can only watch as the hiring and training dollars that have been invested in their human capital is used at the competition.
First understand that you cannot guess at the root cause of your turnover. You must use facts to improve your employee engagement. The high cost of turnover is enough of a deterrent to ensure that this topic is forefront of the minds of managers and stakeholders in any organization.
People talk about the high cost of turnover which no doubt would take into account different aspects such as cost of hiring, cost of training, time away from productivity while staff are being trained etc. However, consider the costs that you cannot place a dollar figure on:
- A well respected member of your organization leaves and those left behind begin to consider leaving
- A leader leaves your organization with their talent, future creativity and innovations and other organizations benefit from the talent pool you once had
- A good sales person leaves your organizations with all the relationships you once had – again, other organizations reap the rewards of your lost clients
- How do you manage the dollar figure attached to breaks in customer satisfaction due to a decrease in your staffing levels?
- What is the cost of a decrease in morale in your workforce?
These are a few ways in which turnover affects organizations but also poses a challenge in measuring exactly how much this translates into dollars. Keep in mind that these apply only when you are losing good performers. If you are losing underperformers, then the attrition is an opportunity to attract some good talent.
How do you create a great place to work?
What is your brand? What is the culture you have decided to have in your workplace? What kind of relationships do you have with your frontline staff? Do they trust you? Are you transparent in your management of the company as a whole? Do you bring your staff along when promoting a new idea or do you just tell them? Do your staff feel needed and wanted in the organization? Do you reward talent? Do you know what motivates your staff?
These may seem like a lot of questions but answering them honestly and making practical changes may be a start to succeeding at employee retention.