Employee Retention Article

May-June 2004

Keep your best

As the 2004 Randstad Employee Review shows, and a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey confirms, the most significant HR challenge to emerge in the near future will be employee retention.

The SHRM survey, produced in cooperation with the Wall Street Journal’s career site www.careerjournal.com, surveyed 451 HR professionals and 300 manager and executive level employees. The research found that HR managers believe that turnover activity will commence in full force once the economy finds its feet and the job market opens up. The Randstad Employee Review uncovered the same finding: Employees have worked hard over the past three or four years; they’ve held on, maintained their productivity and many of them are primed for a change once the market turns.

What will make them stay? Few employees expect extravagant incentives. Most would be motivated by competitive compensation, decent benefits and challenging work. The results of both surveys demonstrate that developing an effective retention strategy is not rocket science. Randstad advises, “Think like an employee.’’

Here are some suggestions:

• It’s obvious, but critical: Hire the right person for the right job. Do that and retention becomes much easier. Use whatever tools are available – skills testing, personality assessments and security screenings. Make sure you’ve got the right person to begin with.

• Offer prospective hires an attractive and competitive salary and benefits package. Find out what your competition offers, and best it.

• Everyone wants to believe that they are going somewhere. Provide opportunities for employees to improve their skills, train for more responsibilities and develop their career opportunities. Conferences, workshops, mentoring programs and team projects will go a long way to helping an employee feel valued.

• Respect is a two-way street. If you expect your employees to respect you, you must offer the same to them. Talk to them. Listen. Acknowledge their input and act on it.

• Give feedback on performance and offer rewards for results. It’s that simple. Link bonuses to both individual and company performance.

• Exploit their talents. What else are you paying them for?

• Share the financials with them; make company performance relevant to what they do every day.

• When they achieve their goals, recognize and reward them based on their individual priorities, developmental opportunities and personal preferences. You decide what’s appropriate; just be sure that you do it.

• Finally, and most importantly, the human capital of your company is its most important asset. Don’t burn them out. Staff smart so that your best workers get some relief.

Remember that the Golden Rule applies in business as much as in personal affairs. Do unto them as you would have them do unto you.

Source: HR About.com March, 2004
Source: Randstad North America’s 2004 Employee Review May, 2004