CERP Program Approved for up to 26 SHRM Re-certification Credits

The Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) recently approved that candidates in our employee retention certification program can earn up to 26 re-certification credits. This is nearly half of the total credits required for re-certification. The programs official title is the Certified Employee Retention Professional program (CERP) and it provides candidates with online tools to apply to their organizations in real time to cut employee turnover and retain the best workers. Whereas other certification programs are typically based on knowledge in order to pass tests, the CERP requires information and action.

The CERP is a great way to build your skills and contribute to your company. More information is available at http://www.retentioninstitute.com/

Employee Retention Tip of the Month

Retention Tip #19: Match the length of your onboarding program with your tipping point

Many companies lose a high percentage of new hires early, specifically the first 90 or 180 days. This happens especially in service industries, such as call centers, retail and fast food. If your company faces this challenge, measure the number of days at the point where early turnover ends...the point at which you can say, "If they stay this long, they tend to stay much longer,” and develop onboarding processes that continue throughout this period. Include supervisors by asking them to meet with employees over time with specific questions to ensure new hires are connected to their peers and their supervisors, too, as well as learning and performing their jobs well.

Which Management Skill Matters Most for Retention?

The answer, hands down, is trust. An abundance of studies by research institutes, universities, and real-life management experiences all point to this 5-letter word as the critical fulcrum as to whether employees stay with a manager or leave him. Yet a typical management curriculum includes communication, feedback, recognition, career coaching…with the assumption that doing these things leads to building trust. But some managers can be pretty good at these skills but still have flaws in their behavior that lead to their team’s not trusting them. The good news is that trust is usually about behaviors versus character. We are good people who do some insensitive things. And since none of us are immune from doing things at work we later regret, an essential skill for building trust is apologizing.

Where is the fine line between “good” apologies and “bad” apologies? It’s about taking full responsibility in a credible way. One example is Toyota executives who have apologized with no excuses for their recalls and did so with passion I could feel. Another is former Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin who apologized publicly for the decision to merge with AOL. These apologies felt sincere and are far more effective than those who apologize with words like “I’m sorry you misunderstood what I said”, or worse, those who apologize after getting caught doing something they really don’t regret.

The message for managers…and us…is clear. Learn to look someone in the eye and say “I’m sorry I did this because I know how it impacted you and I’ll never do it again”. That’s simple, highly effective, and very difficult for some of us.

Employees on the Move

USA Today published results of several “intent to leave” surveys in their edition on December 23rd, 2009. Here’s what they said:

• Right Management surveyed 900 workers and found that 60 percent intend to leave their jobs in 2010
• The 2009 Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations Report said 55% of employees plan to change jobs, careers or industries “when the economy recovers”
• CareerBuilder.com surveyed 4,285 full-time, private-sector employees and found 40% had difficulty staying motivated in their current jobs and 24% didn’t feel loyal to their current employers

Historically, turnover has gone up as economies improve and more jobs appear. This recession went deeper and lasted longer so the ultimate job-changing outcome might reflect employees’ frustrations with layoffs, lower pay, and more stress that came their way.

A CEO’s New Year’s Message

David Ottati is CEO of Florida Hospital Flagler as well as a client and friend. He recently addressed his top 40 managers and provided a list of 5 people-management guidelines for them to follow to continue the great success of his hospital. Here’s David’s list:

1. Appreciate your people and recognize everyone has weaknesses, even you and me

2. There are times to make difficult decisions and make them…think long-term

3. Separate personal relationships from performance…and know how important it is to build trust by connecting with each member of your teams

4. Allow room for mistakes to help them grow and contribute more

5. Reward those who make process suggestions for the good of all…is their goal to make us a better hospital or just a better hospital for them?

Getting the Right Metric

We find it interesting that companies report turnover by year or month when many of them have a high turnover rate in employees’ first 90 days. So our solution is to measure early turnover…first 90, 180, and 365 days…to learn each company’s early turnover “tipping point”. If we know many leave in their first 90 days but those who make it past 90 days tend to stay for long periods, then it makes sense to measure, report, and set goals for this metric rather than the usual ones.
This metric is especially helpful for high-turnover jobs such as call center reps, waiters and waitresses, fast food workers, and even nurses. Nurses have so many choices that some hospitals lose them early and need to build in early fixes in the ways they hire and onboard.