The Red-Headed Step-child Named Retention

Employee Retention Strategy Can Save Companies Millions

In a recent post on the Risk Management for the 21st Century blog at AllBusiness.com Nancy Germond and I discuss a retention strategy that businesses can employ to minimize risk and help their bottom line by decreasing costs.

With unemployment at one of its highest rates many organizations have let their focus on employee retention slip - with the untapped pool that is consistently being flooded with talent old and new, this action puts your organization at risk and it’s costly. The majority of your current employees look for work elsewhere as economy improves - and even during the turmoil, and the attitude in many organizations is employees are easily replaced, but the costs (and hidden costs) associated with replacing talented employees lead to further problems down the road - risky thinking indeed.

Obviously this can be said with any organization, but the more experienced an employee is the less risky they are and the less risk there is for your organization which makes retention an important step in any organization.

The unique model, which I call The Rethinking Retention Model, bases the retention process on the belief that it should be managed like any other practice: sales, service, quality or safety.

These are some of my recommendations:

• Calculate the cost of turnover to determine how much it hurts your company's bottom line.

• Hold supervisors accountable for retention and teach them the importance of and how to build trust.

• "Narrow the front door to close the back door.”

• Carefully script the employee's first 90 days on the job.

• Develop a “Stay Plan”

• Build tools to connect with employees.

• Allow Candidates to Screen Themselves Out

• Hold employment vendors to retention standards.

• Hire Older Workers

• Use a referral system - current employees refer candidates for three reasons.

In today's economic climate, organizations can no longer ignore retention strategies if they want to retain their top talent, and retention is critical to any company's bottom line - and retaining talent is even harder. With the use of my strategy I was able to help one hospital cut nurse turnover by 34%, effectively them millions.

You can read the entire posting by clicking here.

For more information on my work, visit www.TheRetentionFirm.com or http://www.retentioninstitute.com/.

Good News about Grey Hairs

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that older workers plan to stay in the workforce, perhaps because they lost retirement dollars in the recession. Specifically, workers ages 65+ will grow by 78% during the period of 2008-2018 while the number of workers in age groups 35-44 and 45-54 will shrink. In fact, the number of workers ages 65+ will grow about 10 times faster than the total labor force…10 times faster.

Why is this good news? On balance, older workers are more likely to show up, do their best, and stay in their jobs. They bring old-school values, know what they like to do, have bills to pay, and a lifetime of experience regarding how to treat customers and solve problems. Smart companies tailor recruiting and benefits programs to hire and retain older workers with hopes they will delay retirement rather than be forced to replace them.

Here’s just one study that demonstrates the value of older workers. A BusinessWeek analysis found that by increasing productivity and labor-force participation of older Americans, the U.S. could add 9% to its gross domestic product by 2045, which would add more than $3 trillion a year to overall economic output.
Use data like this to make your company a haven for older workers, especially if you work in a service industry that typically hires young workers in their first or second jobs.. Good things will happen as a result.

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/

The Power of Stay Interviews

We believe Stay Interviews are far more important than exit interviews. With our clients, Stay Interviews are conducted by firstline supervisors rather than HR so these supervisors hear in-person and with no filters why each individual team member stays. Once these supervisors are trained to ask pre-formed questions and then probe, they learn actionable things they can do that are important to employees…and therefore help them to stay.

The training sessions include role plays where we ask supervisors to “play themselves” rather than play pre-assigned roles. In a recent session, a food service supervisor said she was interested in learning more about computers and about international foods. The entire group then brainstormed ways that supervisor’s manager could fulfill this wish and came up with the following ideas: teach her to save international food websites in her “favorites”; send her international food articles online; suggest international dishes for company functions; buy her an international foods magazine subscription; give her an international foods book on her next service anniversary.

This example makes the power of Stay Interviews clear, both for retention and engagement. Solving many employees’ needs is easy if we ask and learn what they are.