Category Archives: How to Retain Employees

Client Trisha Asks:  “Attrition is costing my company a fortune. We seem to have a particular problem keeping our new hires from jumping ship. Turnover in the first 90 days is the main area of concern. As the HR manager, it’s my responsibility to solve this problem before any more damage is done. Any suggestions?”

Coach Joel Answers:  You’re absolutely right about the high cost of turnover. The Saratoga Institute says that losing a single employee can cost you 50% of his or her annual compensation. The numbers are even higher when you get into the executive ranks. So let’s talk about three steps you can start taking right away to turn your situation around.

• Plan for success • Get on board • Follow through

1. Plan for success.

Your employee retention efforts need to start long before the first resumé hits your inbox. There are a … Continue reading How to Stop Employee Turnover in the First 90 Days →

Patrick is facing a major challenge. As the HR director of a mid-sized manufacturing company, the recession has hit him hard. Attrition is high and hard to rein in. Management is pressuring him to make some major policy changes in the way the company manages and retains talent. But he doesn’t even know where to start.

According to estimates, the service sector is witnessing an attrition rate of 40 per cent, pharmaceuticals about 30-35 per cent and manufacturing more than 20 per cent.

Do you identify with Patrick’s dilemma? How is your company dealing with the recession? Are you compromising on talent? Do you have enough leaders to fuel future growth?

After some research into best practices being implemented by other companies, Patrick developed a three-point strategy to discuss with his CEO:

• Generate recruiting excitement • Emphasize accountability and rewards • … Continue reading How to Value Human Capital: What’s It Worth? →

Gordon worries about the high cost of employee turnover. He’s been going through the bottom line and adding up the millions of dollars it’s costing his company to recruit, replace and train new workers.

Additionally, he’s concerned about the indirect costs-customer dissatisfaction, quality control issues, loss of expertise and corporate knowledge, and loss of business opportunities.

He knows that employee turnover affects the job satisfaction of the remaining employees and that high turnover tarnishes the image of the whole company.

Gordon decided to study employee retention.  What is it that makes employees stay or go?

He read three separate case studies about employee retention, on three important topics.

1. Organizational culture.

The six-year study “Organizational Culture and Employee Retention” by John E. Sheridan of the University of Alabama at Birmingham looked at the various organizational cultures in six public accounting firms. The study … Continue reading Want to Keep Your Employees? 3 Case Studies in Employee Retention →

Client Charles Asks: I have a real problem with attrition. I ask my team if there’s anything wrong. They all say everything is fine. But then then resign and leave for another job. The cost of training new hires is just killing me.  I have to find out how to retain my employees.  Can you help?

Coach Joel Answers:  Charlie, I’m pleased that you have several things right.  You are aware of the high cost of replacing good workers.  Not just the cost of hiring and training, but also the cost of lost productivity while the new employees learn.

And you are looking for a real solution to the problem of employee retention.  It’s often hard for employees to feel free to open up about a problem.  Here are some reasons workers might not be free to share … Continue reading How to Retain Workers by Surveying Employees After They Resign →

Emily owns a boutique investment opportunity firm. She finds her small business has an employee retention problem. “I really need skilled workers,” Emily says. “I feel like I just get them trained and they leave. It’s so frustrating.”

Emily went to an executive coach to try to find out what the problem was.  With a small business, each new hire created a proportionally higher business cost. “I just had to find a way to cut costs,” Emily said.

The coach helped Emily face some painful truths. She was part of the problem.  The good news was there were things she could do as owner and manager to help retain her employees.

Feedback.

“My coach helped me realize that I was not very good at taking feedback. I was so focused on getting the job done… and getting it done my way… that I was Continue reading Solutions for Small Business Employee Retention Problems →

Client Joan Asks: We’ve been really struggling with an employee retention problem.  I’d like to help my managers determine where the problem may lie and come up with some solutions we can implement to keep our employees productive and happy.

Do you have some articles I could recommend to them that would help?

Coach Joel Answers: I like the direction you are going, Joan.  If you allow your managers to read up on the way other people have resolved this problem, you get some buy in.

Then when they come to the table to discuss their ideas and solutions, you already have them taking ownership of the problem. They will be more interested in working toward a solution.

Here are six articles that will get you started.

1. How Managers Can Improve Their Workplaces for Employees.

Joan, the fact is, most employees leave because of their … Continue reading Six Articles to Fix Your Employee Retention Issue →

Carlos oversees the human resources department for an expanding oil company. As part his goal to educate and improve abilities of HR and the staff to manage human capital, he decided to find and share great articles. “I wanted a resource that would be of value for our employees and managers,” Carlos said.

“I wanted our people to understand that they could have more control over their advancement,” Carlos said. “It’s not just HR that controls talent management, leaders and workers have a say, too.”

Carlos researched talent management articles for human resources he could draw on for information to share. “Often I’ll ask the writer of a great article if I can repost it for my people,” Carlos said. “I know it’s unethical to just lift it from the web without permission.” Even without permission, however, it is acceptable to quote excerpts and provide a … Continue reading Talent Management Articles to Supercharge Your Company’s Human Resources →

Client Paul Asks:  I’m tired of the same-old recognition presentations.  I want my employees to know that I value them.  I want to retain my top talent.  But I want a fresh approach, a different way to recognize them.

Coach Joel Answers: You’re on the right track.  Recently, when companies were asked if they thought employee aptitude or attitude was most critical for success, they chose attitude.

When you reward employees with interesting employee retention presentations, you will enhance workplace attitudes and keep your key people happy.  But it doesn’t have to be boring.  You can make those announcements of great performance fun and interesting.

Add a little humor; do something zany or off the wall to brighten things up.  Or make it special or memorable. Here are a few ideas for doing just that.

1. A shout-out in a PowerPoint. Place … Continue reading 10 Presentations to Recognize & Retain Your Employees →

Felix is a supervisor of engineers at a nuclear power plant. His goal was to attract and retain his valuable employees. “The money invested in training new engineers is astonishing,” Felix said. “I wanted to keep my people.”

There are three supervisors over three divisions of workers. Felix noticed that one supervisor, Max, had a very large turnover in workers— nearly 100% annually. And the other supervisor, Madison, had almost no turnover.

“I was in the middle,” Felix said. “I had some turnover. More than I wanted, but a lot less than Max.”

Felix saw some of the reasons Max couldn’t keep his people. He was a workaholic and demanded the same of his employees. He was critical and demeaning.

“I wasn’t like that,” Felix said. “I thought I was a fair boss. But still… I had this attrition.”

Felix researched and found a study by John Kammeyer-Mueller of … Continue reading How to Attract & Retain Valuable Employees →

When Stacy started work, she found it exciting and rewarding. She felt she was moving up and making a difference. But lately, when she walks in the door at work she feels drained and unenthusiastic.

A few weeks ago, Stacy decided to face this frustration. What was going on at work that created a feeling of DE-motivation? What was causing her to be less satisfied with her job and less willing to dig in and get the work done?

She decided to list her concerns and then figure out what to do about it. At the end of the week, Stacy’s list of demotivators at work looked like this:

Micromanagement.

When she first started work, she needed some extra help. But now that she was confident in her work, the micromanaging seemed interfering. It made her feel like the boss didn’t trust her.

Solution: Before a project starts, … Continue reading How to Combat Demotivators at Work →