There has been a lot of talk about the impending labor crunch and what employers need to do in order to recruit top talent to their business. However, recruitment efforts shouldn’t just be geared toward new hires. Today’s employers also need to know how to retain talented employees once they’ve got them on board.

When asked what would make them stay with their current employers, more than 1,000 respondents to a Saratoga Institute survey said the following:

·        Training and mentoring

·        Earnings potential

·        Positive work relations

Training and mentoring. Research has revealed that training opportunities are especially important to workers ages 18-24; however, most people are interested in developing their skills regardless of their age. According to the Hewlett-Packard Small Business Tips website, the belief held by many people that older workers are looking toward retirement and are not looking to expand their knowledge and skills is just not true. With their years of experience, older workers are an asset to any organization, and one of the ways to retain them is to give them the same training opportunities as younger workers. According to Carol Pine, author of Feeding the Appetite for Worker Education, “if you give employees the chance to develop their skills within your organization, they’ll be less likely to leave in search of other opportunities.” The decision-makers at Lucent Technologies understand and support this philosophy by providing each employee with 15 days of training each year. Employees even get to design their own “personal development plan” with the help of HR to determine what kind of training would benefit them most. The Horn Group, a San Francisco-based public relations firm, gives its employees a “personal development fund” that they can spend on any type of training that they think will help them do their jobs better.

Establishing mentoring relationships within your organization is a great way to provide training to employees and to meet some of their other needs as well. In their textbook Developing Management Skills, authors David Whetten and Kim Cameron emphasize that, “The research is clear, in fact, that career success, work satisfaction, and resiliency to stress are enhanced by a mentoring relationship. Individuals need someone else in the organization that can provide a role model, from whom they can learn, and from whom they can receive personal attention and a reinforcement of self-worth, especially under uncertain, crucial, and stressful situations.” Pairing younger workers, who are usually technologically savvy, with older workers, who have real-world experience, benefits both parties and the organization as well.

Earnings potential. It’s not just about cash compensation. Earnings potential also includes health insurance, retirement/pension plans, stock options, extended vacation time, and promotional opportunities. But when it is about the money, there are several creative things employers can do to give employees what they want while getting something in return:

·        Performance-based bonuses. A recent survey published by the Society for Human Resource Management revealed that, “Productivity pay helps the employee and the company perform better. More than 50 percent of the respondents said incentive pay is used to boost workers' salaries, improve productivity, and retain employees.”

·        Retroactive raises. Some White Castle restaurants motivate new hires to stay on the job by giving them automatic retroactive raises upon the successful completion of their introductory period.

·        Rewards for spending less. Employees of Canadian trash hauler 1-800-GOT-JUNK? who spend less than their allotted per diem while traveling are given half the savings by the company as a way of saying thanks.

·        Cash for wellness participation. Pepsi gave a $75 Mastercard prepaid debit card to employees who participated in a health assessment. Employees who needed follow-up help were given $100 for attending classes on topics such as smoking cessation and diabetes management. The company sees a $1.50 to $2 return on every dollar it invests.

Positive Work Relations. Richard Hadden, coauthor of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, remarked that, “If people feel like they’re part of a workplace, then they’re going to have more resistance to leaving. They’re not just leaving a job, they’re leaving a community, and it takes a little bit more of a tug for that to happen.” Most highly engaged workers have no plans to look for a new job. So, how do employers fully engage their employees?

·        Keep them in the loop. A survey conducted by Mercer Human Resources Consulting revealed that, “workers kept up-to-date about important issues by their employers are highly likely to stay on the job.” Employees who don’t know what’s going on in the workplace often feel disenfranchised, which leads to their disengagement, resulting in their disappearance from the organization. Post pertinent information on company bulletin boards, create a company newsletter, have monthly staff meetings, send email blasts with the latest news – do whatever you need to do to keep employees at every level informed about what’s going on at work.

Other ways to keep employees informed and, thus, engaged include:

- updated employee handbooks and clear policies and procedures. Clarity in work place policies and procedures was rated as “very important” by the respondents of a Princeton Survey Research Associates survey. A word to the wise: consult with those who will be affected by policies and procedures before implementing them.

- employee orientations. Judith Brown, Director of HR Research for the International Personnel Management Association, says that, “Orienting employees to their workplaces and their jobs is one of the most neglected functions in many organizations.  An employee handbook and piles of paperwork is not sufficient anymore when it comes to welcoming a new employee to your organization. The most frequent complaints about new employee orientation are that it is overwhelming, boring, or that the new employee is left to sink or swim.  The result is often a confused new employee who is not productive and is more likely to leave the organization within a year.” 

- thoughtful annual performance appraisals. Showing employees the connection between their performance and the organization’s success and providing them with feedback on how to become more effective in order to meet their personal goals lets them know that you care about their success as well as their performance.

·        Keep them involved. Whirlpool puts its line workers on strategic management teams alongside its top managers and upper-level executives, which makes the line workers feel valued and provides management with the insightful perspective of those on the front line.

·        Train their managers and supervisors. A Northwestern National Life Insurance Company survey revealed that employees who rated their managers as supportive and interpersonally competent had:

- lower rates of burnout

- lower stress levels

- lower incidence of stress-related illnesses

- higher productivity

- more loyalty to their organizations, and

- more efficiency in work than employees with non-supportive and interpersonally incompetent managers.

Interpersonal competence involves the ability to effectively relate to others, and, according to Developing Management Skills authors Whetten and Cameron, while scores on IQ tests have increased over the last 100 years, interpersonal competence test scores have actually decreased. Therefore, today’s managers tend to be intelligent but lack the people skills necessary to be effective. Indeed, a 25-year study of employee surveys identified incompetent management as the primary cause of workplace stress. Three out of four employees surveyed said their relationship with their immediate supervisor was the worst aspect of the job. According to managingemployees.net, “Employees leave for many reasons and some of them can be beyond your ability to manage. Yet studies indicate that one of the main reasons for leaving is because of their relationship with their supervisor/manager.”

The good news is that interpersonal competence can be taught. And, according to F. John Reh, a contributing author to Business: The Ultimate Resource, it should be taught: “The key to your business success is the productivity of your employees. The key to employee productivity is their perception of their immediate supervisor. Invest in training your supervisors and managers. It will pay off.”

·        Thank them. A&G Merchandising Company reduced turn-over by giving its supervisors thank you notes to give to employees who performed exceptionally well. Our firm gives Starbucks, Jamba Juice, and movie gift certificates to employees who are recognized by their co-workers for going above and beyond the call of duty. Other simple ways to say thanks include giving employees the day off on their birthday or company anniversary date, bringing in donuts on a random Tuesday, buying them lunch after a successful sale or completion of a project, etc. There are lots of little ways to let your employees know that you appreciate them, and the little things mean a lot. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said, “It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”

Giving employees the opportunity to grow, rewarding them for their efforts, and maintaining a positive place for them to work is what keeps them on board. Randall Tobias, chairman of Eli Lilly, probably put it best by saying, “What my years of business experience have taught me is that the key to competitiveness is innovation, and the key to innovation is people. Taking care of people, therefore, is an essential way of taking care of business.”