Employee Retention

Thanks to Dr. Todd Harris, Director of Research at PI Worldwide (www.piworldwide.com),

Harris’ research has identified 10 specific tactics that can minimize employee flight risk in a resurgent economy, and help to ensure happier and more productive employees. Here’s a brief summary of each retention tactic:

• Be Strategic—Identify the talent pools within your organization that are most critical to your future success;
• Work the Data—Measure and analyze potential drivers of employee turnover; be sure to look at both internal and external factors;
• Hire Right—Make sure you have a process in place to hire people with the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities to be successful in a given job;
• ‘Embed’ Your Employees—Foster a workplace environment that allows employees to develop a rich and satisfying professional relationship with co-workers;
• Check Early Interactions—Give new employees clear and ongoing support from the beginning, and check in regularly to ensure that they’re gaining traction;
• Pay Attention to High Risk Groups—Some employees are a greater flight risk than others; give special attention to them;
• Identify Growth Opportunities—Superior growth and development opportunities can reduce turnover; make sure the each employee has a professional development plan;
• Develop Great Leaders—Managers play a key role in employee retention; make sure that your managers foster employee commitment;
• Monitor Employee Satisfaction—Regularly monitor employee satisfaction, by both quantitative and qualitative means;
• Work on Job Design—Design jobs to promote interdependence, feedback from others, social support, and interaction with those outside of the organization.

Resources

• "The Science and Practice of Employee Retention" by Bill von Achen, Best Practices for Business website - the article summarize 10 specific tactics to improve employee retention

• Wikipedia page on Wikipedia:Employee Retention discusses various theories, models, tools and best practices (several are also cited above).

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has "Tips on Employee Retention" lists several best practices, some of which are cited above.