Article
An effective retention strategy is dependent upon the success of other human resource strategies
At one time or another, we have all worked for a company where employees are hired and then voluntarily leave a few months or a few years later. It is like a revolving door where one day an employee is doing his job and the next day he is gone. What’s more, these companies see this issue as merely a fact of being in business and not something they can really change. They simply start the recruitment process over again and fill that same job a few weeks later with another individual who may or may not stay for the long term.
Unfortunately, improving employee retention is often a poorly managed issue in many organizations. In most companies, no one is responsible for improving employee retention. In others, the company may have someone overseeing retention, but this individual does not get the support he or she needs to do the job effectively. In other words, they wear the retention hat, but are not given the budget and resources necessary to be successful in managing the issue.
The reality is that the Human Resources department is best suited to deal with the problem of employee retention because they have the skill-set required to manage the issue. However, in many companies, HR departments are “up to their eyeballs” in other issues that prevents them from focusing on retention problems.
Another reason for a lack of focus is that improving retention is affected by virtually every other human resource strategy a company has in place. If you have ineffective strategies in other aspects of human resources, you will be unable to improve your retention issues.
Retention is ultimately affected by your recruitment strategy. If you do not hire the right employees who are best suited for long term employment relationships, you will be unable to improve retention. Therefore, a successful recruitment strategy is of utmost importance to improving retention. Many companies also have inconsistent and ineffective orientation strategies. When an employee voluntarily leaves an organization in his or hers first 90 days of employment, the reason often has to do with an ineffective orientation strategy.
Other business cultures throw new employees right into the fire because they are often “under the gun” to fill positions and get new employees into their responsibilities very quickly. More often than not, these new employees have not had adequate training and are immediately immersed into stressful situations before they truly understand the scope of their roles. Therefore, not having a well orchestrated training strategy will kill your employee retention efforts.
What motivates employees in your company? Well the answer is likely different for every employee. But understanding the motivational factors of your workforce can have a dramatic impact on improving employee retention. So, a successful motivation strategy is of utmost importance in dealing with this important issue.
We all recognize that performance standards can be inconsistent by department or by the management styles of managers. Employees see discrepancies in consistent performance management techniques as favoritism of one employee over another. Why do some employees appear to have someone serving as a mentor and watching out for their best interests while others do not? Employees see this as employee favoritism and often become disgruntled and even envious of the “favored” employee. Therefore, a company also needs successful performance management and career development programs and strategies if they are to improve employee retention.
Unfortunately, improving employee retention is difficult. Not only is a strong retention strategy plan needed, but it will be fully dependant on many other human resource strategies.
There are many different approaches that companies can take when developing a retention plan. Some companies leave the problem to operating managers out in the field who really do not have a good sense of how to improve their retention problems. This “hands off” approach is often ineffective. Other companies try and create standard uniform practices to improve their retention efforts. For example, improving employee benefits or giving pay increases across the board are seen as ways of improving overall employee retention by showing the employee population that the company cares about them.
A third (and often more effective approach) is to focus retention efforts on a department or area of the company that appears to be particularly hurt by the voluntary resignations of employees. This more focused approach can be implemented more quickly and can have a more immediate impact.
How do we determine what is causing a particular company’s employee turnover? Certainly well crafted employee surveys and exit interview forms will give the company some valuable information. But the opinions extracted from these employee surveys and exit interviews need to be turned into data that can be used to compare departments, time periods, reasons for leaving the company, etc. Measurements need to be established that compare the past and present and will be used in the future to compare employee retention trends.
Yet, there is nothing more powerful to the VP of Human Resources than the ability to translate employee turnover into lost dollars. This individual will certainly get the attention of the senior management team or Board of Directors if they can translate voluntary resignations into expenses. Strategic objectives, strategies and clearly defined action plans communicated to the senior management team - - with the estimated saved expenses - - will get the attention, focus and SUPPORT of the senior management team.
What to do now:
Develop strategic objectives, strategies and action plans for the following human resources subjects: recruitment, orientation, training, motivation, performance management, career development, communications, compensation, benefits, leadership, and of course RETENTION.
Successful implementation of strategies in any of these HR related topics will have a positive impact on your retention plans and, once fully implemented, the company will see dramatic improvements in their overall company employee retention rates.
