Employee Retention

As an employer:

Have you ever been surprised by a resignation?
Do you want to know what usually motivates employees to leave?
Do you want to reduce the disruption and expense of turnover?
Have you ever wondered what employees are saying about their current situations when they talk to recruiters?

Their concerns tend to fall into four categories:

1. The job itself and prospects for the future

• Limited opportunities for upward advancement
• Company not doing well, future stability uncertain
• Have stopped learning, no longer being challenged
• Have been doing the same job too long
• Work is too routine, want more projects
• Big organizations: Want the chance to see the big picture, job is too narrow
• Small organizations: Want more opportunity for growth in the future
• Want to have more impact on the organization

2. Company, culture and communication

• Organization doesn't value the accounting department
• Tools and technology are out of date
• Department is understaffed
• No cross training, have to work twice as hard to catch up after a vacation
• No time to be proactive, always putting out fires
• Lack of communication about goals, deadlines, job openings and company direction
• Want to work for a company that is fun
• Company doesn't trust its employees
• Job not as described during interview

3. Personal needs

• Reduced travel time
• Less stress
• Better work/life balance
• More money

4. Complaints about management style

• Lack of recognition for contributions
• Micromanagement, rather than autonomy
• Lack of timely feedback and reviews
• Disorganization and crisis mode, with no time to make things better
• Responsibility without authority
• Interesting work isn't delegated
• Criticizing in front of others
• Boss is inconsistent and unfair
• Boss isn't honest or straight-forward
• Long hours are a "badge of honor". People are judged by hours not results.

So what can you do?

How can you make sure that your employees aren't voicing similar concerns? Here are eight proven strategies:

Proactively talk to your staff, in a nonjudgmental way, formally and informally. Don't expect employees to volunteer their concerns. If you have been surprised by turnover in the past, chances are good that communication had broken down somewhere along the line.

Try giving your employees more autonomy and see how they do. You might be surprised. The amount of guidance and structure you provide must vary with each employee, but you'll never know how employees will perform until you give them a chance. You might end up with more time to plan and make proactive changes, thereby reducing the number of fire drills.

Assess yourself as a leader, coach and mentor as opposed to a boss. Do some of the complaints about management style apply to you? Remember to treat your employees as if they have a choice in where they work, because they do.

Become more confident of your own role and its importance. If you are insecure in your own job or abilities, you may adopt damaging behaviors such as criticizing in public, not delegating enough and taking credit for your employees' work.

Mix it up! Most people love variety and challenge. If the organization isn't growing, work to provide your staff with variety in project assignments and even lateral movement. An added benefit is the cross training that will occur naturally as a result.

Assess workloads. Understaffing sounds like a cost-saver, but the resulting low morale and turnover are actually much more expensive.

Communicate goals, deadlines, results, achievements and internal opportunities. This is especially important during periods of change. Give the employees the big picture and help them understand how they contribute to it. This is critical to motivating and retaining your staff.

Be creative. The companies with the most success in retaining employees avoid being too rigid and inflexible. They find creative ways to address employee concerns while still accomplishing business objectives. For example, reassign clients to even out travel and overtime, use a contract resource to reduce your employees' overtime and routine work, or use job-sharing to help people balance their work and family responsibilities.