Love Them or LOSE THEM

Seven strategies to retain employees

By Robert B. Tucker

Finding good employees has never been more challenging than it is intoday's tight market, and retaining them is even tougher. Companies now face themost competitive job market in decades, and losing employees can ravage yourbottom line. Consider the productivity and replacement costs involved when anemployee walks out the door. Research indicates losing one employee costs acompany an average of $50,000. So how do you retain employees? Here are sevenstrategies that will help:

1. Create a Great Environment

Build a supportive and challenging workplace where communication isencouraged, initiative is rewarded and development is provided. A good workenvironment offers employees interesting work, growth opportunities, ongoingtraining and a chance to be heard. This environment needs to be supported by astrong, well-defined culture, and maintained by managers who take an interest intheir employees. Create the kind of place employees want to return to, not runfrom.

2. Support Your Employees

Talk with your employees. Make sure they know their jobs and yourexpectations. Provide employees with clear goals and the information resourcesnecessary to work toward them. Include two-way conversations that allowemployees to be heard. Value employees' input and include them in thedecision-making process. Provide opportunities for making meaningfulcontributions. Good employee-management relationships are essential. The GallupOrganization's study of 80,000 managers in 400 companies found an employee'srelationship with his direct boss is more important for employee retention thanpay and perks.

3. Provide Ongoing Training and Development

This is key to keeping employees--and keeping them enthusiastic. Involve yourpeople in the discovery of new opportunities and innovations. Develop themthrough mentoring programs. Provide learning opportunities at every level of theorganization in the form of seminars, educational opportunities or trainingprograms. Armed with new skills and motivated by the learning process, employeeswill gladly assume new responsibilities and meet challenges with greaterinitiative. As long as workers are learning and stretching, they will keepadding value in the form of tangible end results, and will stick around.

4. Re-Recruit

Take the time to find out how your people are doing. Find out what theirneeds are and whether those needs are being met. Find out how the company cansupport its employees. Make it a priority to have the conversation now. Taketime to ask them, "What are the kinds of things that will keep you? Whatkinds of opportunities, growth, etc., do you want?" Make it easy to moveand grow within the company and employees will be less likely to look outside.Never assume they can't be lured away.

5. Rev Up Recognition

Respect and appreciation earn respect and appreciation. Employees often saythey never hear the words "thank you" from their bosses. Genuineappreciation costs nothing, but can yield significant benefits. You need to letemployees know how much you appreciate them--regularly. Recognize even thelittle accomplishments. Give employees "brag" time to acknowledgetheir successes. Companies are recognizing their people more by acknowledgingwork, birthdays and milestones at meetings.

6. Make Work Fun

How can you make work more of an adventure? How can you get your people towant to come to work? When was the last time you celebrated some victory in yourcompany, some milestone that everybody can get excited about? Find ways withinyour company to make your employees want to work and succeed. Create anatmosphere that celebrates success. One company has instigated a plan called"corporate cookies" to build employee camaraderie. One afternoon aweek, cookies are delivered and everyone sits around the office talking about"what is going right." Simple things like this can have a big effect.

7. Walk Your Talk

Employees are looking to the workplace--and to you as the leader--forauthenticity. It is one of the most critical criteria in retention. SouthwestAirlines, a company that has shown steady profits year after year, receivesfewer customer complaints and maintains greater retention of employees than anyother U.S. airline. According to Fortune magazine, Southwest is also one of themost desirable companies to work for in America. What is Herb Kellaher, thecompany's CEO, doing right? He is making work fun, but he is also walking histalk. There is an authenticity about management that puts out company values andlives by them. Kellaher said recently, "Figure out what your values are,because once you figure out what your values are, the rest falls intoplace."

Robert B. Tucker, president of The Innovation Resource in Santa Barbara,Calif., provides customized keynotes and seminars on the topic of "Managingthe Future: Age Waves in the Workforce." For more information, call805.682.1012 or e-mail [email protected].