Insight: Retention: Solutions and Tips
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"Attract, develop, retain good performers" is at the heart of every organization's needs and every manager's job. Yet, too often we ignore these activities until top performers start leaving or we cannot find enough people to grow our organization.

What are some of the main reasons people leave? Most are unchanged over the past decade: problems with one's supervisor, lack of opportunity, limited or non-existent career development, poor management practices. Many people feel over-burdened and under-appreciated, as cutbacks in recent years have often meant long work hours.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Ask your employees why they stay.
This can be done with surveys or in small group sessions. It is often most effective when done by a third party and confidentiality is guaranteed. Organizations with a tradition of effectively used employee surveys may be able to do this in-house. Once you know why people stay, you can use the information to improve your hiring, train your management, improve your management practices, and re-recruit your best performers.

Train all managers.
Managers need to know how to manage effectively and must apply their knowledge. Most critical management training topics include: effective performance management, communications skills, prevention of harassment and discrimination, career coaching skills. Management development can include seminars, in-house training programs, brown-bag lunch series, books and videotapes.

Communicate.
Tell everyone what the organization's goals are at every opportunity . Provide information on current issues and events - positive and negative! Encourage communications among all levels. Survey after survey shows employees do not understand their organization's goals and do not trust their managers to keep them informed.

Hold managers accountable for the performance and development of their staff.
Good performers know when they are being over-burdened due to other employees lack of performance and resent it -- and they eventually quit. Good performers want to develop their skills and expect their managers to offer assistance in this process. Managers who do not develop their staff or who hoard good performers reduce the total organization's success. Make managers accountable through their pay and promotions.

Help employees understand their total compensation.
Explain how pay is decided upon and what to expect over time. Describe all the benefits you offer and, wherever possible, the value of each. Repeat the information regularly, don't just put it into an employee handbook. Too many executives think that pay is a taboo topic but realistic communications and openness in information reduces the negative grapevine. If your compensation practices are not equitable and market-related, fix them!

Publicize career development options.
Even small organizations can offer development activities. Yours may include in-house training, brown-bag lunches ( for example: some are free from your benefits vendors), video or web-based training, assignments to task forces or committees, cross-functional assignments, educational assistance programs, professional association participation support, tuition reimbursement, or many others.

Emphasize flexibility.
Offering flexibility in work hours or location is a valued benefit. Some options include: work-at-home days, flexible work hours, compressed workweeks, telecommuting. What could work in your organization depends on your work, your client/customer demands, and your ability to manage performance effectively.

Recognize and reward achievements.
Catch people doing something right and provide immediate positive feedback. Pass on the positive client comments to all whose work resulted in the praise. Develop ways to celebrate organizational achievements. Tie rewards to achievement of specific goals and provide them at the time - not months later.

Treat people as individuals.
Too often organizations fear legal risks so much that they forget to treat each employee as an individual. Recognizing an employee's specific issues and needs and providing the assistance you can in a personalized manner helps ensure their retention.

Audit your human resources management practices.
Look at your entire set of policies and the actual practices. What can you do to improve your hiring? Is there a gap between your strategy or culture and your HR practices? Do your practices contradict your stated values and needs? All these are common problems. Programs which were effective yesterday may no longer be. An audit will help you assess where you are and what needs are not being met.

While management fads come and go, basics of good employee management do not change significantly. The 'golden rule' has not been significantly improved upon: Treat others as you want to be treated. If you want financial success, improve your ability to attract, develop, and retain good performers with these simple concepts. The time you spend to implement and maintain these practices is less than the time you will have to spend to correct the problems created when these are absent.