Simple, not easy
In the previous post, we shared the story of John, a ten-year veteran of Acme Industrial who is now looking for another job. The main reason? He doesn’t believe his employer truly understands and values his contribution to the company. He doesn’t feel appreciated. And he suspects that in today’s job market, he can do better.
It doesn’t have to be this way. “Fifty-two percent of voluntarily exiting employees say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job.” Acme could retain John and other high-performing employees like him if the company took a serious look at the experience they are providing their employees.
If Acme was ready not only to learn what they could do better as an employer, but also to make appropriate changes, the company could save a LOT of money. According to Gallup, “The cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee's annual salary. So, a 100-person organization that provides an average salary of $50,000 could have turnover and replacement costs of approximately $660,000 to $2.6 million per year.”
There is a fairly straightforward formula for becoming the kind of workplace where the best want to work, stay, and grow. Organizations who want to increase employee retention would do well to follow a path something like the one below.
LISTEN: Ask employees for their feedback. A well-designed and executed survey can help you gather actionable data. The feedback could be about pay and benefits, work environment, recognition, rewards and incentives, management and leadership, or any other topic that matters to employees. Exit interviews and stay interviews can also be useful listening tools.
UNDERSTAND: Analyze the results and figure out the story the data is telling. Honest feedback can be difficult for leaders to hear. For an objective view, it can help to engage an experienced consultant who understands survey tools and how to interpret the data in a meaningful way.
DECIDE: Come up with one or two focus areas in response to employee feedback and make concrete plans to improve those areas.
COMMUNICATE: Share results and action plans with all employees, regardless of whether or not they participated in the survey. IMPORTANT: Share this information in way that actually reaches employees. For example, face-to-face (or virtual) meetings with their managers may be more effective than an all-company email.
IMPLEMENT: Build a project plan for accomplishing the needed changes. Set the plan up for success by assigning owners and providing the necessary resources to get it done. Establish deadlines and accountability measures.
MEASURE: Track accountability metrics and determine progress. Consider surveying employees again to see if the changes are having a positive impact.
ADJUST: Modify and fine-tune the plan based on progress measures.
REPEAT
This is a common sense approach. But it's not easy. It takes resolve and know-how, repetition and persistence. To get it done, some organizations choose to bring in an employee engagement consultant to get them going on the right track and hold them accountable.
What is it worth to keep even one of your best people?
