When the job market eases for job seekers, we often see increases in job shifting, as people who've been biding their time make the jump. Typically, they're the people we most want to keep. How can we reduce this source of turnover?
oluntary turnover after a period of difficulty for job-seekers is perhaps the most expensive form of turnover, because that's when capable people leave. When we talk of retention, it's these people we most often have in mind.
An example of a program that does work: recognition. Here the Wisconsin Secretary of Natural Resources recognizes the Town of Wescott with the Tree City 2005 Award. Present are the Secretary, the Town Forester, a Town Board Member and the Town Board Chairman. Photo courtesy Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
We usually compare the benefits of retention to the cost of hiring replacements and bringing them "up to speed." But new hires also depress the productivity of existing employees. For instance, existing employees have to build relationships with new people; they have to support the informal orientation that continues after hiring; and they're more likely to voluntarily terminate, or get scooped up from afar by the people who left.
Since these effects, and others, are "off the books," retention is worth far more than we realize. The actual returns on retention investment therefore justify examining new possibilities.
The most obvious tactics involve compensation and benefits, but since any organization can offer these items, they have relatively low return on investment. By contrast, exploiting the unique attributes of your organization can yield better results, because competitive organizations can't match them.
The global economy is gradually assuming a configuration in which retention will become a competitive advantage. We can continue using the same tired tactics, and continue working with whoever stays — or we can try some new approaches, and see what happens. Here are some retention tactics that are likely to have higher returns.
Make life easy
Help people with errands by providing services on-site or near-site: day care, car wash, banking, dry cleaning, health club and convenience market. Or form a joint effort with your business neighbors. In that critical stay-or-move discussion between two spouses, high quality of life strengthens the arguments of anyone who advocates staying.
Use flextime and telecommuting
Exploiting the unique attributes of your organization can yield superior results, because competitive organizations can't match themTwo-income and single-parent families are especially burdened by rigid schedules. For those roles compatible with flextime or telecommuting, find a way to make it happen. The relief on your internal resources alone will fund the program, but you'll also gain a recruiting tool.
Support discount programs
Provide or facilitate services that fit your demographics: movie and theater tickets, subsidized cafeterias, mass transit passes, health club discounts, and wholesale club memberships. These program costs are mostly administrative, and administration can be automated. See "Food for Thought," Point Lookout for May 22, 2002, for more.
Emphasize recognition, education, growth and opportunity
Good people need new and more significant challenges and responsibilities, and they want to know that their achievements matter. Offering them that is easier than you think. For instance, you can subsidize adult learning.
Stop driving them out
Rumors, archaic and draconian policies, ongoing destructive conflict and toxic politics do more to drive people away than anything you can do to keep them on. When you apply significant resources to resolving these issues, retention might be the least of the benefits. See "Practice Positive Politics," Point Lookout for August 31, 2005, for more.
Most job shifters convince themselves that their new jobs are steps up, and maybe they are. But people do tend to overestimate these opportunities. It's a grass-is-greener thing, so make your own grass as green as it can be. TopNext Issue
Tracy: One additional thought on employee retention: there has been a lot of research done around the idea that people take a job for the company and leave a job because of their manager. It would seem then to follow that training managers to be better managers would reduce employee turnover. I can tell you that in my own organization, I support two groups that do very similar work, but turnover in one group is much higher than the other. Since benefits, pay, perks, etc. are identical, one of the clearly differentiating factors is the two different managers.
Keep the good stuff coming!
Rick: Certainly sounds right to me. And sometimes managers who report to different managers get different direction and face different constraints. So even though one seems to do better than the other, the source of the differences can be higher in the organization. In some sense, nearly everyone who gets promoted is a "first-time something" and needs training or mentoring to do that job well.
Deborah McMillin
Just finished reading this week's newsletter about retention. Hmm. I have read in numerous newsletters and magazines and heard on TV news programs the same advice you are suggesting in hopes of retaining current employees. My response is always the same, "If they want to leave, then leave."
As you say, "Most job shifters convince themselves that their new jobs are steps up, and maybe they are." So, good-bye and good luck. Why should I spend my time, effort, and money to keep people who don't want to be here in the first place?
Life is not a bowl of ice cream day in and day out; you regularly need to eat your vegetables in order to maintain your health.
It seems to me that frequent job shifters would also be remote control junkies type of people always anxious to see what else is available hoping the next shift is more entertaining, exciting, etc. Sometimes it is, but most of the time it isn't.
There is a reason what we do is called "work." It takes sustained effort. This appears to be a characteristic some are lacking these days - especially those who want to be president of the company a week after they arrive.
I say again, if they want to leave "so long, far well, auf wiedersehen, good-bye!"
Are your projects always (or almost always) late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips and techniques for organizational leaders. Order Now!
In group problem solving, diversity of opinion and healthy, reasoned debate ensure that our conclusions take into account all the difficulties we can anticipate. Lock-step thinking — and limited debate — expose us to the risk of unanticipated risk.
Since we spend so much of our waking lives in our offices, it's surprising how few of us take control of our immediate surroundings. If you do — if you make your space uniquely yours — you'll feel better about the time you spend at work.
We use meetings to exchange information and to explore complex issues. In open discussion, we tend to interrupt each other. Interruptions can be disruptive, distracting, funny, essential, and frustratingly common. What can we do to limit interruptions without depriving ourselves of their benefits?
We spend a lot of time and emotional energy in meetings, much of it engaged in any of dozens of ritualized games. Here's Part IV of a little catalog of some of our favorites, and what we could do about them.
Most of us have participated in group decision-making. The process can be frustrating and painful, but it can also be thrilling. What processes do groups use to make decisions?
I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates.
Contact me for details at rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com
or (617) 491-6289, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.
Get the e-book!
Past issues of Point Lookout are available in four e-books:
Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline?
Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info
Public seminars
Managing Virtual Teams for Real Results
Managing global or dispersed teams is challenging — miscommunications, misunderstandings, and interpersonal conflict all thrive in the typical environment of the distributed team. And they're even more common in global teams, because of time-zone offsets and language and cultural differences. We'll inventory the challenges distributed and global teams face, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees will learn concrete techniques for preventing and dealing with the problems that accompany global and distributed teams. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:
Organizational Politics for People Who Hate Politics
Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blind-sided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics. Many of us have become enmeshed in them from time to time, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll inventory the challenges of organizational politics, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees learn concrete techniques for dealing with the problems that arise in workplace politics, while keeping their integrity intact. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:
What do you do when your team can't make critical decisions? Or worse, when they make a decision, what do you do when they open it up again next week? Making good decisions and facilitating group decisions are both critical skills for project managers. In this revealing and interactive program, I demonstrate a model of decision-making that captures the internal conflicts we all feel when we make difficult decisions. With a better understanding of how we resolve conflicting priorities, we not only become more skilled at making decisions, but we learn how to make decisions that "stick." Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:
The Politics of Meetings for People Who Hate Politics
There's a lot more to running an effective meeting than having the right room, the right equipment, and the right people. With meetings, the whole really is more than the sum of its parts. How the parts interact with each other and with external elements is as important as the parts themselves. And those interactions are the essence of politics for meetings. This program explores techniques for leading meetings that are based on understanding political interactions, and using that knowledge effectively to meet organizational goals. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:
Person-to-Person Communication for Project Managers
When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program you'll learn a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:
Ever wonder if there isn't a better way to travel? Travel is essential, but the hassles of travel aren't. Read 202 Tips for Business Travel to learn how to convert business travel from a time-wasting hassle to a breeze. Revised and updated for 2008 with 101 new tips! Check it out!
Are you doing work you love? Are you less in love with the job? Bad boss, long commute, troubling ethical questions, hateful colleague? Read Go For It! Sometimes It's Easier If You Run to learn what we can do when we love the work but not the job. It helps you get moving again!
The key to managing virtual or global teams is creating a sense of team despite the obstacles of separation. Read my tips booklet, 303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams, to learn how to make your virtual global team sing. Newly revised and updated for 2008 with 101 new tips! Check it out!
Are you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or maybe even outright revolt? Read 101 Tips for Managing Change to learn how to plan and execute your change efforts to inspire real, passionate support. Check it out!
A Tip a Day arrives by email each business day. It's 20 to 30 words at most, and gives you a new perspective on the hassles and rewards of work life. Most tips also contain links to related articles. Free!
Do you ever wonder if all these meetings are really necessary? (They aren't) Or whether there isn't some better way to get this work done? (There is) Read 101 Tips for Effective Meetings to learn how to make meetings more productive — and more rare. Check it out!
Exchange your "personal trade secrets" — the tips, tricks and techniques that make you an ace — with other aces, anonymously. Visit the Library of Personal Trade Secrets.
oluntary turnover after a period of difficulty for job-seekers is perhaps the most expensive form of turnover, because that's when capable people leave. When we talk of retention, it's these people we most often have in mind.
Top 
Next IssueAre your projects always (or almost always) late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips and techniques for organizational leaders. Order Now!
Appreciate Differences
Own Your Space
Let Me Finish, Please
Games for Meetings: Part IV
Decisions, Decisions: Part II
Download to
Ever wonder if there isn't a better way to travel? Travel is essential, but the hassles of travel aren't. Read 202 Tips for Business Travel to learn how to convert business travel from a time-wasting hassle to a breeze. Revised and updated for 2008 with 101 new tips! Check it out!
add value to your Web sites quickly and easily. Pick up the HTML to link to this article in a choice of formats.
Are you doing work you love? Are you less in love with the job? Bad boss, long commute, troubling ethical questions, hateful colleague? Read Go For It! Sometimes It's Easier If You Run to learn what we can do when we love the work but not the job. It helps you get moving again!
The key to managing virtual or global teams is creating a sense of team despite the obstacles of separation. Read my tips booklet, 303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams, to learn how to make your virtual global team sing. Newly revised and updated for 2008 with 101 new tips! Check it out!
Are you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or maybe even outright revolt? Read 101 Tips for Managing Change to learn how to plan and execute your change efforts to inspire real, passionate support. Check it out!
A Tip a Day arrives by email each business day. It's 20 to 30 words at most, and gives you a new perspective on the hassles and rewards of work life. Most tips also contain links to related articles. Free!
Do you ever wonder if all these meetings are really necessary? (They aren't) Or whether there isn't some better way to get this work done? (There is) Read 101 Tips for Effective Meetings to learn how to make meetings more productive — and more rare. Check it out!
