PBS News released a new study last week and it reads like the same-old talk. Quit reasons include “young-people” rhetoric, reduction in hours or benefits, options to work remotely or for more flexible hours, relocation, lost their jobs, and of course the old standard, “better opportunity”. Here is a wake-up call regarding the real reasons employees are leaving.
Human Resources work is now, more than ever, in the bullseye of turnover, engagement, retention, and recruiting challenges that are being exacerbated by The Great Resignation with no end in sight. I know you accept this challenge, but do you have a plan for improving retention that you know you can count on to work today, tomorrow, and with whatever the future holds?
If improving engagement and retention is top of your priority list, consider changing the idea that every Employee/Manager meeting should be about performance. Think about it. What if we changed the direction of just one meeting?
DEI has evolved to include the diverse thoughts of our employees rather than just their skin tone, language, gender, sexual preferences, or heritage. Today’s initiatives can then build one-on-one relationship into a trusting relationship, and one where inclinations regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion flow naturally.
Many companies rely on engagement surveys as the key to improving their employee engagement and retention programs. Although surveys bring in data, they don't provide solutions. Why? There are 4 missing pieces missing that keep you from having an effective engagement and retention process with real measurable results.
Stay Interviews Q 3 cause employees to self-search and the reason for doing so is simple. Most employees can immediately tell you why they might leave, but few have actually catalogued in their minds why they stay. And once they announce to you why they stay they also announce it to themselves…and they tend to never forget it.
One study says we are spending $1.5 billion each year to fix engagement, while the results would say we are flushing those dollars instead. These are not new problems, but they are screaming for new solutions. The time is right, then, for Stay Interviews.
Wow. Retention problem plus a very creative and spot-on solution. Imagine how much that employee’s trust for her manager will increase when the manager returns to the employee and says, “Remember when you mentioned your concerns regarding product development? Well, I have an idea and want to see what you think about it.”
Believing hiring a Chief Happiness Officer will improve turnover, or relying on any of the other seven most-used programs noted here, ignores the science that says the #1 reason employees stay or leave is how much they trust their supervisor.
Learning is alive, it’s current, it’s fresh and stimulates the mind to want to learn more. First-line supervisors are using Question 2 of the Stay Interview 5 as a practical approach to discovering what each employee wants to learn instead of jumping straight to a career development plan.