Are You Losing Employees You Want to Keep?

What are some popular retention techniques?
Every three to four years, companies lose an average of 50 percent of their staff. While that is a staggering statistic, the next is even more powerful. The cost to replace an employee who leaves is 50 percent of that person's salary. What to do?

If you're losing employees you'd like to keep, exit interviews and feedback from current employees about their concerns will shed some light on your best approach.

Increase and improve communications.Tell employees periodically about the advantages of employment at your organization. Benchmark your competitors; communicate the advantages. Think about holding focus groups, creating online databases and hotlines, conducting attitude surveys. Demand that excellent communication be a priority for all managers and then document your progress.

Develop a retention tool kit. Nancy Glube, regional HR director for BellSouth Mobility in Boca Raton, Florida, suggests that employers consider the following five tools in creating an employee retention tool kit:

1. Employee relations;

2. Compensation;

3. Benefits;

4. Scheduling; and

5. Workplace enhancements.

Employee relations tools include:

Compensation tools include:

• Retention bonuses (Use retention bonuses for key staff to ensure continued employment through transition periods, like mergers and acquisitions, site closings, or financial difficulties. As part of an overall retention strategy, design a retention bonus program that includes more than salary payments. For example, include benefits such as college tuition, relocation, and retirement enhancements. Also, it's more effective to pay retention bonuses over time than in a lump sum).
• Retention contracts ("golden handcuffs" where the employee agrees to remain with the company for a set period of time in exchange for a monetary award; provide that misconduct, poor performance or litigation will nullify the contract).
• Competitive salary structures (based on marketplace movement, competition, workforce supply and other economic factors in your recruiting area).
• Accelerated frequency and amount of salary increases for vulnerable groups of employees (watch for resentment among other groups of employees with this tool),
• Lump sum payouts (may be tax implications here)
• Sign-on bonuses
• Promotions
• Stock awards and employee stock option purchase plans
• Pay for performance programs
• Company matching of charitable contributions

Benefit tools. Are there ways to make benefits more attractive to employees?

• Shortened waiting periods may make your benefits more appealing than the competition's
• Stock options and stock purchase plans for employees other than executives (also provide education on how to use them),
• Profit-sharing
• Long-term care benefits
• Legal insurance
• Benefits for domestic partners
• Tuition reimbursements plans that are more generous or provide direct payment to the school
• One-on-one time with company executives
• Matching 401(k) contributions
• Annual total compensation statement so employees truly see the benefits of working for your organization
• Financial planning services
• Child care services
• Elder care services

Employee services benefits. The "sky is the limit" in the area of employee services benefits. Let your employees' lives set the tone for these perks.

• on-site dry cleaning
• on-site food service (including take-out meals for nights when employees work late and don't have time to prepare a meal for the family),
• free lunches
• an on-site concierge
• on call masseuse
• on-call hair dresser/barber or services at a reduced rate

Workplace enhancements. Again, this is an area where your business culture is your only guide.

• Casual dress policy
• Relax the limits set on personal e-mail or Internet use
• Bring pets to work; start small with birds or fish in employee offices
• Off-site work locations for brainstorming and think-tank activities

Scheduling tools. Sometimes, all it takes to keep an employee in your organization is to make working there more convenient.

• Flexible work hours, days, weeks. Increasingly, employees want flexibility in their jobs and will remain with an employer that provides it.
• Job rotations
• Job sharing
• Job swapping
• On-call arrangements
• Telecommuting
• Virtual offices/hotelling
• Sabbaticals to prevent burnout
• Paid internships to college students with the promise of a job upon graduation
• Leaves of absences to pursue personal or career issues
• Paid time off for volunteer activities

The tool model is appropriate for the discussion of how to retain good employees as it indicates that this is a creative process, one that you can "build to order" for your organization and your employees. Keep your retention toolbox close at hand.

Respect. Loyalty and respect are values that appear to be reciprocal in the workplace. There is no substitute for respecting your employees. Providing individualized work sites, promoting the value of relationships with peers and supervisors, and providing valuable training are some of the techniques employers can use to reinforce their respect for employees.

Reprinted with permission. © CCH