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Pay Attention to Retention

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: It is imperative to pay attention to retention because when there is turnover, it saps the organization in numerous ways. This article offers some ideas on how to improve employee retention.

Pay Attention to Retention

Many organizations are suffering a debilitating tax brought on by employee turn over. Even in times of high unemployment, turnover is still a high ticket expense for most groups. When jobs are scarce, workers may not leave immediately, but they are quietly planning on exiting once the job market becomes more open. One estimate is that 40% of workers are unhappy and expecting to make a move within the next year if there is an opportunity. How can we fight this needless drain?

When people are unhappy with work, it is most often the result of dissatisfaction with their direct supervisor. So, the first place to go to work is the quality of leadership at all levels. If we can teach supervisors and managers how to treat people well, we can make a huge dent in the turnover situation. Unfortunately, when money is tight the first thing that gets cut is training. Improving leadership at all levels needs to be a continual investment, not a one time event when someone gets promoted to a supervisory role.

Pay is often cited as a reason for people leaving an organization. I think pay is a factor in some cases, but it is often just the excuse. What is really happening is that the work environment is intolerable, so the remuneration for the grief to be endured is not a good trade off. We need to teach managers to improve the trust level within the organization. High trust organizations can pay workers non-inflated wages and still have excellent retention rates.

A key way to keep good people is to challenge them with meaningful work and continually invest in their development. Think about it; if someone is learning and growing all the time, there is little reason to look elsewhere. If each employee has a concrete development plan for the future, it can cut turnover rates dramatically.

Reinforcement is another way to show workers they are appreciated. When people are rewarded, even by non tangible methods, they are less dissatisfied. Rewarding people for their best efforts always has a good ROI.

The issue of retention is simply a matter of treating people the right way. Many managers call these things "soft skills," but they really are hard edge measures that must be embraced for organizations to succeed.

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Article Tags: Leadersnip, Retention, trust, turnover



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