It’s time to make the critical shift from leading the business by yourself to leading an organization of people. At P2Excellence, we help you navigate the uncharted territories of organizational growth with clarity and confidence.
Maybe it would be more accurate to say this is a ‘Wake up!’ call to examine the correlation of high turnover and retention in your own company! What’s happening is fairly clear…unemployment rate is low, number of jobs is high, competition is relentless, and employees have options: ‘Should I stay, or should I go?’ And the millennials are answering that question for us: They’re young and willing to explore their options at any number of other places of employment. So, retention most definitely comes into play.
Collectively, worldwide, companies spend millions of dollars investing in new hires, then searching for their replacements. There are numerous direct and indirect costs when employees leave (just think: search fees for new hires, advertising costs, productivity and project delays, etc.). Many companies do not have a firm understanding of the reasons why employees leave their positions, and as expected, neither do they have strategies for reducing turnover rates.
What to do? If you’ve been a long-time reader of ‘Tuesdays‘ then you might remember our series of posts in 2016 and 2017 on employee engagement. It wasn’t just hearsay, there is real benefit (and value) to establishing employee engagement strategies that ‘favorably’ impact:
- Compensation
- Opportunity for advancements
- Rewards and recognition
- Relationship-building with co-workers, teams and supervisors
- Training and development
- Communication effectiveness
- Meaningful work
- Shared accountability
- Flexible work schedules that truly accommodate and inspire a real work/life balance
So, what do you do about all this? Examine, really examine how employees – at every level – are engaged in your workplace. How are they and their work recognized and appreciated? What opportunities exist to make them feel and be a part of your company’s growth? How well do your managers interact departmentally with their employees and understand their needs? How is fairness executed throughout the company and at the department level? How is good work acknowledged and growth encouraged? Are the right people promoted, or is it based on a friend of a friend versus skill and commitment?
More than ever, an air of litigation hangs, well, in the air of all businesses, reminding us to do the right thing for our employees and for our business. Are we doing that? As I read not too long ago:
Employee Engagement = Motivation + Job/Organizational Satisfaction + Commitment + Discretionary Effort
Experts in employee engagement point out that you can and should measure and track employee engagement across and within your organization over time.
Are you doing that? Ask yourself:
- What strategies do I use to reduce employee turnover rate?
- How effective are my retention strategies?
- Do I know why employees leave my organization?
- How can I use my experiences and knowledge to retain and re-engage employees within my organization?
- How do my employees perceive their contributions within the organization?
Do I give them opportunities to share their experience at monthly “All-hands meetings” and at weekly “Departmental meetings?” - How do I reward and recognize employees for outstanding contributions and productivity?
- What development and training plans do I offer my employees?
- What positive and constructive strategies do I use to handle and reverse grievances and complaints?
- What plans can I share with my employees to show appreciation for their stake in the business and to let them know their voice genuinely counts?
- What other recommendations do I have to encourage and build retention?
Let’s discuss! As always, I’d love to hear from you.
