Staff Retention

Dear Procoach,
I run a small IT company. We pay reasonable money but we still lose too many people. There's just no loyalty these days. We've had a few complaints about tough management but it's a tough business. What can I do?
-Mike

Retention of staff is a key issue for many companies these days. Like the song says, "money cant buy you love. ' (at best, you get to rent it.) In this case we are talking about loyalty. That, you have to earn. What you need is a package that satisfies financial, intellectual, emotional and career aspirations as well. Staff are often attracted by the pay, but they usually stay or go for other reasons. The bottom line is, if you don't have the basic positive environment, you will never keep staff for long. Departures can cost the company an enormous amount, in money, time, and aggravation.

So how do you foster an environment that satisfies all those needs? Financial and career aspects have been dealt with elsewhere in this issue, so I'll focus on the intellectual and emotional, drawing from research on job stress, and occupational success.
One of the best ways to get to employees to stay, is to make them more able to leave. Putting time and money into professional development has a variety of positive results. It demonstrates that the company values the individual, it makes them special, upskills the individual in their own and their workmates' eyes, and provides extra value for the company. You get the credit as a generous and interested employer.

People love to be recognised. Don't underestimate the power of the words "well done", especially when spoken publicly.
Reward creativity and innovation, you'll find the people at the coal-face have lots of good ideas to make their work more efficient. This feeds one of the other major needs at work- to make a contribution. We all value the power to choose. This has been shown to be one of the greatest reducers of work stress. Whenever practical, allow employees to decide their own work schedules, and the way work will be handled. Challenge is crucial to our sense of development and engagement. Boring work can be as stressful as a killer schedule. Beware of inadvertently fostering a burnout culture, found often in the "go hard or go home" companies, and the continually restructuring organisation. The first exhausts staff physically, the second emotionally. Both create employees whose lives become unbalanced, with a negative and cynical view of the job.

Create a means for personal development. Companies have done this in many ways including stress reduction programmes, gym memberships, coaching, and employee assistance programmes. These things all have the added advantage of preventing problems that can impact at work. Don't assume that putting people in kayaks, or making them abseil off cliffs for a day, will automatically make them into a team. Team building starts at home, and is based on a good social and emotional environment. Competent managers can do this more cheaply and easily than any consultant. Ask people what they want, before they leave. At an exit interview, especially if there have been problems, many people will just want to keep the peace. Also, money is considered to be more appropriate to be concerned about rather than the emotional climate, especially for men.

Check that there isn't a "demon manager" in the ranks. Someone whose department has a significantly higher rate of staff turnover, disputes and disruptions. Work out how much money this person is costing you, (to focus your attention,) then deal with it. ALWAYS walk the talk. Most of us, at one time or other, have worked for bosses who would say one thing and do another, causing cynicism and distrust. Nothing kills loyalty faster. Assume that everything you do at work is public.

This means, in a nutshell, that the manager must be an emotionally intelligent person. (For those of you who are raising your eyes heavenwards and thinking, 'Not more of this fluffy HR stuff' check out the research on how emotionally competent executives outperform, outsell, outmanage and outprofit others, - hands down. at http://www.eiconsortium.org/ )

The keys to all of this? Firstly, you need to demonstrate commitment to the well being of your staff. Allocating resources and time are the commonest ways of doing that. Secondly, showing that you care about staff as people always helps, a personal word here and there never goes amiss. Finally, enabling employees to do their jobs better has major positive spin offs for both you and the individual. The combination of these factors leads to a more committed workforce, and happier employees give a healthier bottom line.