Retention rules

By Bill Arman

The times have changed, and changed dramatically. Now that the Great Recession is pretty much behind us, the employee market has changed to a whole new added focus: employee retention. Gone are the times when it was tough for our employees to just get up and leave our companies and find higher paying jobs! Gone!

In today’s reality, there’s been a shift from an employer’s market to an employee’s market.

Here is what that means for you and your company:

• Construction in all fields has picked up and that means your people are prime targets.
• People are leaving their current organizations for higher paying positions – much higher.
• Studies show that at least 20 percent of your people are out looking RIGHT NOW!
• Your organization’s ability to recruit and retain the right people is CRITICAL.

If that isn’t enough, those of you using the H-2B program are learning that this program is becoming more and more unreliable. And all the while, opportunities for growing your business are increasing.

If only you had the right people through solid recruiting practices and now had the ways to keep the right people. It boils down to the fact and reality that all organizations must be very good at the people part of their businesses to achieve sustainable success. You need to be focused on ways to find, attract, onboard, keep and grow the right people.

Here are several tips to help keep your key people from exiting:

Retention or recruiting, which comes first?

If, for example, some of your good employees are leaving while the low performers are sticking around, you may have a retention issue. If good employees are leaving and you can’t find good ones to replace them, then you have a big recruiting challenge and need to get your people program in place stat. This might require a “culture makeover” and professional help. Find this out and get it resolved before you launch a recruiting campaign.

Ask yourselves: Why are people leaving your company? Are there any patterns? Here are some sample reasons people are leaving:

• Not growing with skills
• Limited opportunity for advancement
• Undervalued with compensation
• Under-appreciated
• Unchallenged
• Bad leadership
• Overwhelmed
• Failing business
• Change in leadership
• Keeping the wrong people
• Location

Do any of these sound familiar? Decide on one to three of the top reasons people are leaving your company and come up with ways to remedy before you run out and recruit more people who then leave for the same reasons.

Also learn why people stay. Here are some examples:

• Opportunity and challenge
• There is a career ladder in place
• They are appreciated
• Growing and learning
• Good vision, values, mission
• Sound organization financially
• Positive work environment
• They like the people, including leadership
• Team-oriented
• Open communication
• Competitive compensation
• Location

The goal here is to reduce or eliminate the top reasons people leave and emphasize and improve good reasons for people to stay.

Action steps: Conduct exit interviews and stay on board meetings.

Hiring and on-boarding.

It’s important to make this a positive experience for new employees.

Action steps: Upgrade this process now. Include a piece on your culture and values. Make certain they feel welcomed and appreciated. Have leaders and owners involved.

Remember: It’s all about people. Always remember that your success will have people at the core. Your ability to find them and keep them is essential. Consider these few key ways to help with your retention program.