Continued from A Previous Blog
5 – Build Trust through Transparency
Going back to loyalty, most new hires have very little commitment to your organization on day one. After seeing my hardworking mom get laid off three times when I was young, I learned that loyalty isn’t automatic in any direction today. It must be earned over time from both sides. The best way I’ve seen this happen with clients is by increasing their level of transparency. In a skeptical society where news outlets share stories of leader after leader doing bad things or not being who they said they were, it is essential that organizations and managers be as open and honest as possible with their staff. If you leave any gaps of information, workers will fill in the missing pieces with their own assumptions (typically negative ones). Consider ways to be more authentic, sincere and accessible to your staff and they will become more loyal every day. If they truly believe you have their back and would fight for them, if needed, they will have your back too!
6 – Retention is Everyone’s Job
At many companies, when turnover rises executives point to HR to fix it, whose plate is overflowing with terminations, payroll, benefits management, and back-fill recruiting. HR then blames bad managers for running off good people, and managers push back complaining the company does not give them enough time or training to manage their people appropriately. The real issue is that no one OWNS retention. It’s time to build a culture of retention, where people at all levels understand the benefits of retaining staff.
Are your staff rewarded for recruiting new hires and given tenure bonuses tied to how long those new hires stay? Be sure you have incentives built in, but also educate all staff on reasons to work together on retention efforts so they are not constantly short-staffed. And reevaluate how you incentivize your managers as well, if retention isn’t already a part of their current compensation model. Are your management bonuses short-term or long-term focused? If they are tied to quarterly goals, remember that some business decisions, which would be better in the long run of the organization, are likely to be overruled for an alternative that will provide those managers with quick money on their next check. And if turnover is a growing issue, ensure your managers at every level are compensated for improving employee retention within their departments.
Same Approach = Same Results
If the trajectory of your employee turnover is headed in a positive direction, then keep doing what you’re doing. However, if your retention is getting worse every year, it is likely time to try a new approach. Is it time for your leaders to think differently about their management mindset? If so, then it is time to demand more leadership training to create a culture of retention where leaders at all levels own it.
Cara Silletto, President & Chief Retention Officer at Magnet Culture, is committed to reducing unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making managers more effective in their roles. Visit Magnet Culture for programs of solving workforce challenges, or contact Cara at [email protected].
Make sure to read the beginning pieces of this blog for the full story. Here they are: Part 1 & Part 2
