At SHRM Talent Conference 2024 I asked the room this question: Who here has ever heard of one manager getting fired for a low employee engagement survey score? Please raise your hand if you can think of even just one. The only sound was the 400-plus attendees turning in their seats to see if anyone raised their hands. There were no hands up.
Those who experience their work as a calling are most likely to feel a deep alignment between their vocation and who they are as a person. However, they are also most likely to act faster to leave than other employees when they have mistrust of management because they bring high degrees of expectations that escalates frustration quicker when stifled by a poor boss. What to do?
As important as engagement is, what do you think provides the best data? A one-day snapshot survey or a regularly scheduled one-on-one manager to employee conversation. To truly know how our employees feel about their jobs every day, we know conducting Stay Interviews are the best way to ask, listen, probe, and respond to individual problems and needs. That’s how to truly gauge employee engagement and improve employee retention.
Even those of us who love hard data must acknowledge the truth that most people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses. I have mentioned my belief that what matters most regarding employee retention and engagement is what employees talk about over dinner and bosses are often what they talk about over dinner.
“The things that destroy love and marriage often disguise themselves as unimportant. They’re not bombs and gunshots. They’re pinpricks. They’re paper cuts.” The common thinking about why employees quit is usually pay, benefits, career paths, and other broad one-size-fits-all expressions. The reality though is that many employees are quitting their jobs today because of the hundreds of paper cuts by their direct supervisors.
The first quarter of 2024 is a great time for visionary leaders to consider fresh strategies to retaining their organization’s top talent. With the unwavering belief that every company should make it a mission to cut turnover rates, I present to you five employee retention resolutions for your consideration.
29% of U.S. workers are quitting their jobs within one month of their first promotion. Yes, please read that sentence again. Given that we are talking about first promotions, maybe younger workers don’t see moving up the organization chart as worth the hassle, even for a jump in pay.
It seems too intangible or simple to say that supervisors who build trust will improve retention, even more than traditional solutions like pay, benefits, onboarding, training, and everything else. But it’s true that the the lens through which your people see their relationship with their manager is how they see your company.
C-Suite Analytics’ work with United Facilities cut turnover for full-time workers by up to 58%, cut costs and improved production metrics. Then they elected to take on turnover for their temporary workforce. Could Stay Interviews be as effective for retaining them?
Here’s what’s true: Higher engagement leads to lower turnover. But does conducting more surveys lead to higher employee engagement? Today I’m diving deeper into my research from one of my books to address the question.