Employee engagement is a fuzzy concept that usually generates a fuzzy metric. Most of us conduct employee engagement and we assume the results never vary, that somehow a one-time snapshot on the third Thursday in March reflects how our employees feel about their jobs every day.
The bottom line is PEPCO’s Baltic states’ turnover has decreased by 67%...and PEPCO has yet to leverage the full power of Stay Interviews as they have taken them to the Area Manager and Store Manager levels only. Kristina tells me the likely next step is to implement Stay Interviews to include all PEPCO employees.
The fight wasn’t fair because science was on my side when I played my “test the booth” game, one could even say I cheated. On one side was me, holding onto the correct answer as to why employees leave like a gambler with four aces, while on the other side was a salesperson trying to make a buck.
We have a client with very high entry-level turnover where we are implementing customized solutions to fix it. And we WILL fix it. But this story is about the top of the organization rather than the bottom.
My first Tony encounter began with a SHRM conference in Las Vegas, circa 2009. Somehow, I learned that Zappos was sponsoring tours at their nearby headquarters, so I signed up, boarded their bus, and toured their facility.
This is a time when not only top performers can go anywhere, but all employees are taking stock of their own happiness, their families’ health and stability, and asking what matters to them most. Connecting, communicating, and applying Stay Interviews has never mattered more.
One tactic kept jumping out, that employee referrals out-perform and out-stay other employees…and the research even indicated they tend to work for less money.
Never waste your time again asking an employee why she’s leaving. Never analyze a vendor’s data regarding why your employees leave. Never compile data into a report to tell your top team why your employees are quitting. Never report the top 5 reasons why employees quit ever again.
The correct answer is your CFO…your chief financial officer…even though Spiderman would make work more fun. Everyone on your top team including your CEO should look to your CFO to provide teeth for your engagement and retention efforts.
Doesn’t the thought of a new hire who sees work as a calling sound nearly the same as someone who is highly engaged in her work? And has her attention focused on improving her performance and learning more rather than looking for other jobs online?