Fluid Consulting eBulletin Issue 09

Since creating Fluid in 2006, retention has always been the area where we have been most active. In my days of salaried employment I always took a keen interest in why people stayed and what circumstances led to their resignation. Prior to the recession we completed a number of projects for white collar professions where the need for specific qualifications ensured that high performers were in short supply. Some of these clients were linked directly or indirectly to the property sector and now take a somewhat cavalier attitude to staff turnover, believing that a surplus of top-notch employees is now available. In addition we worked closely with organisations based in less than attractive geographic locations or established in industries where skills shortages exist.

In the post-downturn period most of our retention work has been with sectors that predominantly offer the National Minimum Wage and therefore lose valued workers to industries paying better salaries, and employers that have undertaken redundancies or restructuring but need to consider the impact of ‘survivor syndrome’ on the people left behind. During this period we have recognised the significance of the following considerations in reducing attrition:

EXIT INTERVIEWS

We advocate exit interviews be completed every time an employee leaves, and depending on the culture sometimes three months after the individual has departed. Typical questions may include:

Tell me about how you've come to be leaving?
What is your main reason for leaving?
What are the other reasons for your leaving?
Why is this important, or so significant for you?
Within the (particular reason to leave) what was it that concerned you particularly?
What could have been done early on to prevent the situation developing/provide a basis for you to stay with us?
How would you have preferred the situation(s) to have been handled?
What opportunities can you see might have existed for the situation/problems to have been averted/dealt with satisfactorily?
What can you say about the processes and procedures or systems that have contributed to the problem(s)/your decision to leave?
What specific suggestions would you have for how the organisation could manage this situation/these issues better in future?
How do you feel about the organisation?
What has been good/enjoyable/satisfying for you in your time with us?
What has been frustrating/difficult/upsetting to you in your time with us?
What could you have done better or more for us had we given you the opportunity?
What extra responsibility would you have welcomed that you were not given?
How could the organisation have enabled you to make fuller use of your capabilities and potential?
What training would you have liked or needed that you did not get, and what effect would this have had?
How well do you think your learning & development needs were assessed and met?
What learning and development interventions did you find most helpful and enjoyable?
What can you say about communications within the organisation/your department?
What improvements do you think can be made to customer service and relations?
How would you describe the culture or 'feel' of the organisation?
What could you say about communications and relations between departments, and how these could be improved?
Were you developed or inducted adequately for your role(s)?
What improvement could be made to the way that you were inducted or prepared for your role(s)?
(For recent recruits of less than a year or so): What did you think about the way we recruited you? How did the reality alter from your expectations when you first joined us? How could we have improved your own recruitment? How could your induction training have been improved?
How could you have been helped to better know/understand/work with other departments necessary for the organisation to perform more effectively?
What can you say about the way your performance was measured and the feedback to you of your performance results?
How well do you think the appraisal system worked for you?
What would you say about how you were motivated, and how that could have been improved?
What suggestion would you make to improve working conditions, hours, shifts, amenities, etc?
What would you say about equipment and machinery that needs replacing or upgrading, or which isn't fully/properly used for any reason?
What can you say about the way you were managed? On a day to day basis? And on a month to month basis?
How would you have changed the expectations/objectives/aims (or absence of) that were placed on you? ...... And why?
What, if any, ridiculous examples of policy, rules, instructions, can you highlight?
What examples of ridiculous waste (material or effort), pointless reports, meetings, bureaucracy, etc., could you point to?
How could the organisation reduce stress levels among employees where stress is an issue?
How could the organisation allowed you to have made better use of your time?
What things did the organisation or management do to make your job more difficult/frustrating/non-productive?
How can the organisation gather and make better use of the views and experience of its people?
Aside from the reason(s) you are leaving, how strongly were you attracted to committing to a long and developing career with us?
What can the organisation do to retain its best people (and not lose any more like you)?
Have you anything to say about your treatment from a discrimination or harassment perspective?
Would you consider working again for us if the situation were right?
Are you happy to say where you are going (if you have decided)?
What particularly is it about them that makes you want to join them?
What, importantly, are they offering that we are not?
Could you be persuaded to renegotiate/stay/discuss the possibility of staying?
Can we be of any particular help to you in this move/deciding what to do next (we can't promise anything obviously)?
How might we benefit from your knowledge, experience, introductions to your contacts, etc., prior to your departure?
Would you be happy to take part in a briefing meeting with managers/replacements/successor/colleagues so that we can benefit from your knowledge and experience, prior to your leaving?
What can we do to enable you to pass on as much of your knowledge and experience as possible to your replacement/successor prior to your departure?
How and when would you prefer to pass on your knowledge to your successor?
I realise that you'll not be happy with the situation surrounding your departure, however we would really appreciate it if you could help us to understand some of the important things you've been working on - how might we agree for this knowledge to be transferred?
We'd be grateful for you to introduce (name of successor) to your key contacts before you go - are you happy to help with this?

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Even when there are few organisations hiring, good people will still leave for pastures new. We recommend the following approach to minimise the chance of this happening:

Invest in the talent within – make any adjustments to your strategy and move quickly to align your workforce through clarity with goals, performance tracking, skills and employee engagement.
Re-assess your core skills and functions and focus learning & development particularly induction on these areas.
Focus your performance management to ensure that you have a clear understanding of the highest and lowest performers within the business, so that if cuts are required then they can be targeted intelligently. Bear in mind the Pareto principle of 80:20 and make sure the top 20% know who they are and that their needs are being met on a bespoke basis wherever possible.
Benchmark local organisations fishing in the same talent pool and competitors on a national basis to establish what learning & development opportunities are available and strive to exceed them.
Treat the workforce as customers. You offer a mix of concern, pay, benefits and opportunities, and if they like what you offer, they pay in work and commitment. The analogy is Sales, where the professional provides personalised attention, knows customers’ preferences, and anticipates their needs. You can translate these principles to employee relationship management. But never forget, relationships will be a differentiator for you only if the right mix is in place.
Analyse the difference in staff turnover between sites and departments, both voluntary and non-voluntary. Address problem patterns then look at the reasons for dissatisfaction, which may be linked to pay, management style, culture, politics, health and safety and opportunity to develop and grow.
Pay attention to reward, because if the pay and benefits are too low, employees will be open to - or look for - other opportunities. Check the market, and if your pay scale is below market level, adjust it accordingly.
Ensure communication of the strategy is clear and encourage transparency wherever possible. The negative 'grapevine' is a sure way to encourage your top performers to brush up their CV.
Recruit strategically: Be opportunistic with the inevitable fall out, use social networking and blogs appropriately, inject some life into your employee referral scheme and freshen up your employer brand.
Don’t confuse cost reductions with redundancies. When a firm uses workforce reduction as a component of a so-called ‘cost reduction’ policy, you can be sure it will lower the morale. Even if you try to hide or frame the policy - using euphemisms such as ‘reengineering’ for instance – the true nature of the policy will be discovered eventually, and the outcome will damage employees’ commitment. On the contrary, we consider proper cost reduction involves the lowering of the costs incurred by the activities that employees perform, and it can be even a motivating factor if they are rewarded – remember, not all rewards are monetary – when employees achieve such a reduction. Therefore cost reduction does not necessarily lower to commitment and involvement.
Line management holds the key for talent and retention. Invest in developing and equipping your managers to execute a role of real leadership.

As the economy improves the employers with the best teams will be in the strongest possible position to take advantage of the opportunities available. Make sure you are one of them by doing everything you can to make your organisation an attractive proposition to the people you already employ!


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