According to a recent Workforce.com article, your managers can be a “secret weapon” against attrition.
Although unemployment remains high in Tennessee, the number of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs rose in July, signalling a boost in job seeker confidence. As the employment pendulum swings, retention is becoming a key concern for the region. What should your company do now to make sure employees stay working for you?
Hold your managers responsible for retention. By training them on the financial impact of turnover – and holding them accountable for retention – your Middle Tennessee business can reduce the costs to your company.
It’s often said that “employees quit their bosses, not their jobs.” Specific data on why more employees are so restive is not available; but according to Richard Finnegan, co-founder of the Retention Institute and author of Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Bad, it’s logical to conclude that poor managers are at the heart of the problem.
Finnegan argues that retention should be a strategic, not a tactical, issue. Instead of haphazardly implementing things like casual Fridays to retain your best employees, you should evaluate turnover as you would equipment or other capital costs – attaching a real dollar amount to it, and holding managers responsible for controlling it.
At the end of the day, great employees can find better jobs in any economy. Bearing this point in mind, the Retention Institute has developed a program based on three broad principles:
- Employees quit because they can.
- They stay for things they get uniquely from their organization.
- Supervisors exert the most influence on whether employees remain with an organization or feel compelled to look elsewhere.
So the question is: “What are your managers doing (that your competitors aren’t) to keep your best and brightest working for you?”
Turn your managers into your company’s secret weapon against attrition. Proactively equip them with the knowledge and resources to keep key employees on your team. Here are several ideas from Wood Personnel to help you take a more comprehensive and systematic approach to curbing turnover as our economy continues to improve:
Throughout the recovery, make employee retention strategies a part of your organization’s “big picture.” And if you ever need help finding talented administrative, light industrial, accounting, engineering, management or IT staff for your company, be sure to give Wood Personnel, Middle Tennessee’s staffing, recruiting and employment leader, a call.
