Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset
Retaining your best employees will become more important as competition heats up.

By Randy Woehl

As we move into the next millennium, it will become more difficult to recruit and hire quality employees. Retention also is a challenge, with recent surveys indicating that nearly 52 percent of employees would leave their current position if something “better” came along.
There has been much written about the impending labor shortage by the year 2010. Human resource and business experts are predicting that, in the next 10 years, there will be 105 jobs for every 100 people. This spells gloom for businesses that find it difficult to retain their current employees.

Successful Retention
Companies that are successful retaining high-quality employees have one thing in common: They hire the right people the first time. Their recruitment and hiring process focuses on identifying candidates who have the right skills coming into the job. It has been said, “Hire for talent; train for skill.” The number one hiring mistake is that managers hire for personality instead of performance. Looking at what candidates have accomplished in the past is a likely predictor of their future behaviors. When you hire good employees, they tend to become successful at their new jobs quickly.

Make Them Feel at Home
It is imperative that you quickly immerse new employees in your culture and make them feel like one of the team. Pair them with mentors or experienced employees to get them trained and get answers to questions they may have but are afraid to ask. Without a doubt, the quicker new employees develop a strong working relationship with one or more co-workers, the less anxiety they will experience. The first 60 days are critical to retaining your employees.

Treat Employees With Respect
The number one, most fundamental management skill is to treat your employees with respect. Building their self-respect on a daily basis is critical to retention. When providing feedback to your employees, consider this rule: Treat them as they want to be treated. This does not mean that you compromise performance standards, but how you communicate those standards to employees may differ based on their individual preferences.

Remember, not all employees want to be treated like you want be treated. Build relationships with your employees and ask them how they like to receive positive and constructive feedback. Opening up to them in this fashion will go miles in developing trust. Most employees leave because of their bosses, not because they don’t like the job or the company. Exit interviews will help determine why your employees leave. Encourage them to be open and honest so that you can change things to keep others from leaving.

Motivation
Successful managers quickly learn what motivates their employees by finding out what they value. Every employee is motivated by something different. Some employees are motivated by money, others by recognition. A key to a good retention program involves designing recognition and reward programs that your employees appreciate. Be creative and spontaneous. Recognize and reward your employees in ways they least expect (e.g., movie tickets, unplanned time off, a cookie bouquet, mall or restaurant gift certificates, etc.)

Celebrate small successes. Don’t wait for an entire project to be completed. If they are ahead of schedule, stop and celebrate their extra effort. When the project is completed, celebrate again. Remember to reward good performance quickly and be specific about what you are rewarding them for.

Compensation
Pay and benefits are important to your employees, but you don’t have to pay the most and offer the best benefits. You just need to be competitive. If the only thing that keeps your employees from leaving is pay, they will only work for you until they find a higher paying job. Offering more money to stop them from leaving is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Remember, most employees leave because they’re unhappy with their boss or the working conditions. Don’t just throw money at the problem.

Have Fun at Work
Without question, companies that have fun at work have lower turnover than those that don’t. Considering that we spend about one-third of our lives at work, it is important to enjoy what we are doing. As a company owner, you are responsible for setting the tone. If you are unhappy and irritable, your employees tend to follow suit. This is called “shadow of the leader.” Make your company a fun place to work, and your employees will enjoy every minute they are there.

You can also read about different retention strategies in books such as 1001 Ways to Reward Employees and Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay. Spend some quality time up front to keep your “most valuable asset” happy, because if your employees are satisfied at work, they will ultimately be more productive.

Randy Woehl, SPHR, MPA, owns and operates TrifectaHR, a Kansas City-based human resource consulting company that provides recruiting, placement and human resource compliance and training to small and medium-sized businesses. He can be reached at or 1-866-TOPJOBZ.