Don’t Lose Your Top Performers

When it comes to building and retaining an employee population, hiring may turn out to be the easiest part. Keeping employees over the long-term is becoming an increasingly difficult endeavor and no solution will be one-size-fits-all. Finding the right fit depends on understanding each employee population and drilling down to find an overview of employee wants and desires designed to keep them interested and engaged at work.

Employee Retention Equation

Employee retention is a growing issue further compounded by a candidate’s market where the number of open jobs exceeds the number of unemployed people by almost 1 million. In 2019, employers and hiring managers are feeling an additional pinch as job attrition hits its highest number since recordkeeping began in 2011.

In Oct. 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 3.5 million employees voluntarily left their job. This attrition or gradual loss translated to a quit rate of 2.3 percent. Interestingly, reasons behind the rate are not just related to salary and perks. In fact, 77 percent of employees who voluntarily leave a place of employment do so for work-life balance and career development reasons, according to Work Institute’s 2018 Retention Report.

At the same time, U.S-based companies cut 43,884 workers from their payroll during December 2018. This year-to-date total is close to 29 percent higher than cuts in 2017, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., a global placement and executive coaching firm. The firm attributed many of these changes to changing consumer behavior and expectations of a possible economic downturn in 2019.

Economic worries coming from multiple sides make it more important than ever for employers to maintain their top performers. Slowing attrition can come in the form of addressing the topic of career development and work-life balance issues, which are often easier than matters of salary and benefits.

Boost Engagement and Keep Good Employees

1. Give Recognition – In many companies, tenure is one of the biggest triggers for recognition. With fewer employees staying beyond five years or more, it’s time to rethink how companies recognize employees. This can be as simple as offering an authentic thank you on the regular and instituting programs that let employees reward and recognize their peers.
2. Learning Culture – An investment in personal development is important to many employees. Creating and regularly sharing ways for employees to take advantage of opportunities for personal growth can benefit the company and the individual.
3. Lateral Moves – Consider putting a new spin on lateral moves by taking a page from the Hershey Company’s playbook. If an employee is thinking about leaving the company, Hershey offers the employee an opportunity to work on a new project in another department. This provides a fresh start for the employee and a way to preserve institutional knowledge for the company.

This article is brought to you by Staffing Kansas City. A full-service employment agency that provides contract-to-hire, direct hire and contract employment placement services in the Overland Park, Johnson County, and Kansas City Metro areas.