To paraphrase a well-known business adage, an employee retention problem well-defined is a problem half-solved. Clients often think they understand why employees quit, and yet they cannot explain why costly turnover persists. Performance Associates offers a variety of options to help clients understand the causes of turnover and develop strategies to retain valuable employees.
Organizational Analysis
Organizational analysis is an applied research process that can identify the most likely causes of turnover in a given situation. With this approach, we first determine who is terminating (e.g., effective performers, ineffective performers, or both), the stage at which they terminate (e.g., after one week, after one year), and why they leave. We can then suggest solutions tailored to the existing problem.
Scored Applications
Selecting employees who are likely both to perform well and to stay with a single employer is a good retention strategy. Performance Associates has successfully used a weighted or scored application as a low-cost, non-intrusive technique for predicting tenure in many settings. One client reduced a historical 50% turnover rate among seasonal employees to just 10% by scoring a dozen pieces of information on the standard application form and using a cut-score to select new hires.
Employee Opinion Survey
Losing good performers, especially after they have accumulated some tenure, is a costly problem. We may recommend an employee opinion survey to pinpoint issues contributing to turnover of seasoned employees. An EOS is like a "snapshot" of employee attitudes that we can then link statistically to employee intentions to stay or leave the organization. Again, defining the problem is half the solution.
Personnel Research
Sometimes employee retention is best understood in the context of broad spectrum research rather than a focus on pinpointing problems. For example, we have helped some clients identify documented linkages between employee retention, customer retention, and profitability. In one instance we were able to determine approximately how much a large service company lost from customer cancellations because of employee turnover.
Training Design
The lack of adequate employee training is commonly associated with low retention rates. Our approach to designing training content builds on the solid foundation of job analysis. By focusing on the requirements of the job, we minimize the inclusion of both superfluous and insufficient material in a training program.
Career Planning
Employees are more likely to stay for the "long haul" if they feel they have a career, not just a job, with an organization. Performance Associates can provide career guidance and resource materials for employees, taking into account their abilities, personality, and interests. We can also assist employers with placement decisions for new hires that are compatible with employees long-term potential.
Performance Appraisal
Performance plays an integral role in retention by mediating some employees' decisions to stay or leave, especially if there is a link to compensation. Therefore, we may suggest the development or modification of an organization's performance appraisal system in order to yield accurate information about each employee's job performance.
Individual Development Plans
We can take an active role in helping an employee develop skills to perform his or her current job better or prepare for future opportunities. Individual development plans are customized to the employee's needs and integrated with organization resources, such as training, job rotation opportunities, and mentoring. Follow-up coaching and counseling are common elements of these plans.
|