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HIRING GOOD PEOPLE IS TOUGH … Keeping Them Is Even TOUGHER!!!

Guest post by: Michael Shuster

Article Overview: We all ask employees their reasons for resigning. It is not enough to understand why good people leave good jobs. We must also understand why they stay. With current talent wars, the best way to keep your stars is to know them better than they know themselves – and then use that information to customize the careers of their dreams, and help them grow.

HIRING GOOD PEOPLE IS TOUGH … Keeping Them Is Even TOUGHER!!!

Why People Stay:
Many people believe money is the top reason that employees leave their jobs. This simply is not so. While compensation is always important, when you consider the big picture, it does not provide a complete answer to why people leave. Limited advancement and lack of recognition top the list, followed by unhappy with management, and boredom with the job. Often when interviewing and hiring staff, we look for their ability (competence) to perform the job. Although competence can lead to productivity, it does not mean that the individual is ENGAGED by the work.

Rewards People Seek:
Individuals value different things – money, recognition, intellectual challenge, travel, prestige or something more personal. People with similar abilities are motivated to follow different career paths, based on their motivational value system. An example is three people who excel at numerical reasoning and enjoy quantitative analysis. The first may follow the path of financial reward, seeking a large banking firm involved in the stock market. The second is interested in becoming a professor of finance for the intellectual challenge, and the third looks for a track to the CEO’s office – driven by desire for power.

Motivational Interests:
People can be attracted to careers based on their ability to perform the job, and the rewards the job offers – even though they are NOT interested in the actual work. After a short period of success, they become disinterested, dissatisfied and quit or become less productive.
Many talented people leave because senior managers didn't understand the psychology of their work satisfaction. Managers assume that people who excel at their work are happy in their jobs. Unfortunately skills do not always reflect or lead to job satisfaction.

Today’s 20 and 30-somethings coming out of MBA programs are so well educated and goal oriented, they could succeed in virtually any job. But will they stay?
The answer is only if the job matches their motivational interests. These are not their hobbies such as sports or topics such as the stock market or oceanography. Rather motivational interests are long-held, emotionally driven passions. They do not determine what people are good at – they drive what kinds of activities make them HAPPY. At work, this type of ‘emotional’ connection translates into commitment, which keeps them engaged in their work. People don’t always understand what they enjoy (themselves). They may have spent their lives fulfilling other people’s expectations of them (like their parents), or may have followed common career advice: “Do what you are good at”. Often we must understand our employees and applicants better than they understand themselves.

Improving Retention:

One - Recruit To Retain
The best place to start is always the beginning. Improving hiring methods will improve retention down the road. Use “behavior” based interviewing and proven assessment tools to understand what motivates applicants. Don’t base hiring decisions on what they tell you on a resume or during an interview.

Two - Start Them Right
Offer orientation programs that embrace new employees. Proper orientation is a long-term process - not just the first day or week of employment. Use orientation to build employee involvement and commitment. Check back regularly with new employees to "see how it's going". You can’t manage what you don’t measure! It is important to do more than just acknowledge that they have been taught the new skill or process. You must also have in place, the ability to certify that they have learned it. Would you award someone a driver’s license just because they sat in class and learned driving laws, or would you ensure they passed the in-car driving test?

Three - Develop Current and Future Motivational Interests
Managers are critical in the retention efforts, so think about what you're doing to develop skills. Employees don't leave companies; they leave their managers! Too often Managers boss people, instead of lead and mentor them. You can’t manage people - you can only manage ‘things’. You must lead people! Make your managers ones that employees will stick to like glue! Management development is an individualized long-term commitment. It's not a few programs that the organization mandates every manager must attend. Use a variety of tools and methods for developing employees. Assessments, unique training, formal instruction, team learning, and on-the-job training, are just a few methods. Each person is different in how they absorb and process information. Determine what works best with each (unique) person, and then capitalize on it.

Four - Learn From The Past With An Eye On The Future
Don’t hide from the truth. Find out why voluntary resignations occur with structured exit interviews. Don’t turn a deaf ear if you don’t like what you’re hearing. Use that data to make positive changes in your workplace. If recurring themes come up, verify them with existing employees. Consider if certain supervisors have a higher percentage of terminations/resignations? What are the reasons? How can these be avoided in the future? Also remember to identify and then interview your top-performers. Learn why they stay - what motivates them to stay, what they like about the job. Use this information to define the job for future hires, and offer more of what attracts the type of people with similar characteristics (motivational interests) as your Top-Performers.

Written by: Michael Shuster, President: HIDDEN CONCEPTS INC.

His expertise encompasses strategic employee attraction and hiring processes, sales & customer service training, ongoing employee performance management, and curriculum design. His goal setting, coaching programs, and tracking formulas, have been used by managers within over 250 organizations across North America, to successfully inspire and achieve excellence at hiring and managing top performers!

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