Employee Retention – Is it a front-line responsibility?

 

Workforce retention is a hot topic and one that has catapulted to the forefront of any CEO, senior manager or HR professional’s mind.  Whether you realize it or not, every employee, supervisor, senior manager and business owner is in the business of employee retention.  Now, you probably see the connection for managers and owners, but wonder about the relevance for employees.

 

It’s my view that the complexity of the emerging workforce is going to force many decision-makers to shift their organizational culture in the direction of accountability and responsibility carefully balanced with flexibility and respect for individual differences.  Likewise, an increasing emphasis will be placed on building a sense of community among employees.  And with that sense of community will come an increasing dependence on internal champions – at every level in the organization – to assist with recruiting and retention. 

 

Many employers already encourage and reward employees for referring their family, friends and contacts as potential job candidates.  As the labour pool further shrinks and competition for outstanding talent heats up, organizational cultures and strategies will need to reinforce a retention mindset as well.

 

As an owner, the more my employees strive to ensure the satisfaction of their colleagues, the greater will be my ability to retain good people and to spend my attention and dollars on things other than recruiting and training newcomers.  At the same time, the more my employees take ownership of retention as a personal, professional and organizational goal, the more they stand to be personally rewarded. The key is to make sure ownership of workforce retention is measured and rewarded as a function of your organization’s appraisal and reward programs.

Here are a few “What’s in it for me” answers for employees, supervisors and managers.

• Research shows that only about 20 percent of businesses survive the first five years.  Look 10 years out and you'll only find approximately four percent still in business.  These statistics are based on history and, therefore, on less dynamic and competitive times.  As we move forward, the changing business landscape will increasingly exact a toll on a business’s ability to survive.  Retention will be, and indeed already is, a major survival factor.
  
  So, if employees like the work they do, and where they do it, they have a reason to care about retaining their fellow workers.  Doing so, will contribute to their employer’s ability to survive and, therefore, to continue employing them and their colleagues.
  
  
• The higher the retention rate, the lower the workforce turnover rate.  With lower turnover comes a greater opportunity for productivity and/or profits and the potential for rewards and bonuses.  The less time and dollars spent on a continuous cycle of recruiting, selecting and training, the more time and dollars available for investing in existing workforce development initiatives.  So, again, an employee gains personally from a healthy rate of retention.
  
  
• We all know employees who are currently feeling stressed by an expectation that they take on extra responsibilities due to under-staffing, unfilled positions or new employees learning the ropes.  The less the turnover and turmoil, the more likely it is that employees can focus and enjoy their own work responsibilities.

In addition to personally benefiting from all of the foregoing, supervisors and managers can more readily focus their attention on being effective managers and leaders and maintaining more work/life balance.

 

These points above assume three things.  One, that hiring decision-makers have recruited a high caliber of employees in the first place,  two, that employees generally respect each other and are motivated to work together and, three, that retention is a company goal. 

 

Not every company cares about retention at every level in its organization.  Indeed, some companies strive to retain their senior people, but elect turnover as a preferred strategy for the front line.  That is a different conversation so I’ll leave it for another day.

 

If these comments spark some thoughts around your personal responsibility, and that of all employees in your work place to take part in, and contribute to, organizational efforts to retain capable talent, I will have accomplished my goal.   Employee retention is in everyone’s best interest and up to business leaders to begin having the conversation sooner rather than later.

 

If you have a different (or similar) opinion, I would be delighted to hear from you. Send me a quick response by clicking on the following link, cwright@wright-group.ca .