Kinsey Consulting Services

Retaining and motivating top talent -- it's the hottest topic in corporate America today. The questions I get at seminars and conferences are predictable: Why do our best people keep leaving? What are we doing wrong? What's the secret of putting together a reliable, long-term
workforce?

The answer I always give is that there is no secret because the kind of work force they're talking about doesn't exist anymore. The brainworkers who comprise the real assets of all companies today don't think in terms of longevity, traditional loyalty, or the gold-watch deal their Industrial-Age grandparents invented. They think in terms of free-agency, career building, hot resumes, and constructive job-hopping. Shorter-term, project-based employment and a "what's-in-it-for-me-now?" attitude have permeated all the high-tech companies I consult with. And now, even the most traditional industries are becoming more and more dependent on technology to sustain competitiveness in the Information Age. Add to the mix a U.S. unemployment rate that is at a thirty-year low and a workforce generation (GenX) which has 32 million fewer people than its predecessor, and it's easy to see why career-building
opportunities for the young and techno-savvy have never been greater. Job-hopping and "Me, Inc." are becoming pervasive in today's business culture. Like it or not, people are leaving at an accelerating rate. And it isn't only in the IT department, either. According to a recent survey by Louis Harris and Associates with Interim Services, only 29% of the work force today (across a variety of professions and industries) defines itself as "traditional," another 22% say that they are free-agents (called "emergent" in this study). The remaining 49% describe themselves as a blend of traditional and emergent, moving toward emergent. An interesting
aspect of these findings is that the percentages are the same with people in their 50s as they are with those in their 20s. In today's employment market, a stable work force no longer means a permanent work force. What it means instead is a work force who's average member stays with you long enough to show a profit after replacement costs and other disruptive factors (the "cost of churn") have been taken into account. The break-even point will vary depending on the kind of business you are in. But whatever length of time it may be, if want to remain viable in the new Millennium, you have to start looking for more effective ways to encourage your employees to stay with you for the extra year or two that makes the difference. The following are some of the "new rules" for playing today's retention game:

Be honest about retention while you're still at the recruiting stage.
You know in advance that your new hires, whether graduates or recruits from other companies, won't be staying with you forever. So be honest about it. Don't pretend to yourself, or to them, that they'll be around until retirement when you both know that they won't. While you're still selling the job, therefore, make sure you're also selling the career-building opportunities your company offers. Let people know how much they're going to learn with you, how rapidly their skills will expand, how much value-added professional clout they'll accumulate by staying on board for awhile. Let them know how good your company's name is going to look in their resumes when they move on, and how much more money, power, autonomy, admiration, responsibility they'll be able to command at their next organizations after doing a solid stint at yours. And then be prepared to deliver from the first day they come to work.

Focus on good retention psychology from day one.
To be successful, your retention strategy has to click on the minute a new hire walks in the door and starts orientation. But it can't just be any old click. To be effective, it needs to trigger an immediately harmonious resonance. Because day one and the break-in period that follows are events that will color every new hire's attitude toward the company for as long as he or she stays. The "click effect" is neither mysterious nor complicated. It's a basic psychological reaction, in fact, that everyone knows from his or her own experience: First impressions count and first impressions stick. If the impression is a positive one, the new employee will remember and be more inclined to stay with you. If the first impression is daunting, confusing, overwhelming, anxious-making or otherwise disagreeable, mechanisms of self-protection will automatically kick in, and without even knowing it's happening, your new employee will already be looking around for the exit.

Hire the "right" people.
Make sure that you are hiring the right people. It's amazing how many employees will want to stay with you if you've chosen carefully in the first place. That's why companies focus so much attention on identifying employee competencies, evaluating teamwork skills, looking for a culture and values-match -- and then integrating new hires into the work environment as quickly as possible. The sooner employees can get to work doing what they're good at, the more positive they feel about themselves and the organization.

Focus on retention motivators.
Another crucial element in the building of a successful retention strategy is a clear understanding of the factors that make people want to stay with you. Because remember, even one extra year can make all the difference in the profit/loss column when it's balanced against the cost of replacing a valued asset. An effective retention strategy depends on how well (and quickly) you recognize when and why employees are planning to leave so that you can take appropriate action in time. It's not enough to have a general idea of the retention motivators in your organization. You've got to know precisely how your people feel about their jobs, the environment you've created, the company's reputation, and your own style of leadership, or you won't be in a position to offer them what they need to stay with you. This means that you have to continuously survey employees (especially the top 20% -30%) regarding specific leadership actions, salary and benefit packages, growth and development opportunities, management practices, job responsibilities, and workplace environment issues that matter most to them. Then you have to act to close the gap between what they want and what you are currently offering.

Welcome back "boomerang" employees.
You should never harbor any ill will when people leave. Just the opposite, managers today wish departing employees the best of luck, make sure they have a great reference, and remind them that the door is always open if they want to come back. Not only is it gratifying when an employee returns after finding that the other company wasn't as good as anticipated, it is particularly effective as a retention-persuader for other employees who may be thinking about greener pastures. The "boomerang effect", as it's called, shouldn't be ignored. People do listen to their colleagues' opinions. And if colleagues are also trusted friends, those opinions can carry a good deal of weight.

Become an Employer of Choice.
It's been a cliché for years now, but statistics still demonstrate that the companies who really put their employees' well-being ahead of other corporate goals - who treat each member of the workforce, regardless of his/her position, as a uniquely valued individual and as a "whole person" - are the companies that produce both the best retention figures and the highest profits. Employers of Choice (EOCs) are called that because they are the companies in any given field of business where people most want to work. And that is the bottom-line endorsement we should all be aiming for: Employees who say, "I love going to work here." Why? Because then people stay with you longer because they can't think of anywhere they'd rather be.