Keeping the Right People - 4 Retention Strategies

by Cherryll Sevy, CMC

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that by 2010, there will be 8 million more jobs than people to fill them. This is not new data, but this projected crisis is less than 3 years away. Our clients are already challenged with finding, hiring and keeping the best people to help their companies thrive and succeed. Here are 4 key strategies to attracting and keeping the right people for your organization.

1. Create a Great Company Culture
   Culture is described as the values, customs, relationships, community, and organizational way of life within which employees work. It includes traditions, the way things have been done, and the written and unwritten rules of interaction. How would you describe your culture? Is it open, sharing, inviting, fun, honest, ethical and supportive? Do you celebrate your successes; share in joys and wins; while providing mutual support to one another during challenges? Or is it a culture of blame, lack of accountability, distrust, and territorialism?
   
   
2. Communicate Often and Honestly
   Research has found that communication and trust are directly correlated with high performing teams and organizations. If a company wants high productivity from its employees, leaders must be open, honest and confident with the information it shares with employees. The more frequent, open, varied and informative the communications are, the greater the trust factor. Honest, timely feedback is imperative. Today, this requires avoiding “micromanagement” and calls for using a coaching style to develop people on purpose to achieve strong performance and build relationships. Also, differing opinions and honest feedback should be encouraged.
   
   
3. Demonstrate Commitment to Your People
   A frequent lament we often hear is “employees just aren’t committed to companies anymore.” It appears that loyalty may seem in short supply at times, but I have more often seen extraordinary commitment and dedication from employees in organizations at all levels. These are employees who will go above and beyond to ensure the job is done on time, done very well, and they take pride in their work. I also have seen companies hire terrific people, rarely invest in development, consider them as “skill sets or competencies”, occasionally provide performance reviews, and rarely recognize those outstanding contributions and performance. And they wonder why the employee’s not committed? When we feel appreciated, valued and an essential part of an organization, commitment soars.
   
   
4. Create Compensation Programs to Reward What You Want
   It seems obvious that to attract and keep good people, they must be paid competitively and fairly. What this means exactly varies greatly from person to person. Our experience has found that performance-based incentive plans not only better align variable pay to desired company and individual performance, they are very effective in communicating to the employees what is important, how it is measured, and what they need to do to achieve those results. It differentiates top performers from average or lower performers. However, such plans must be carefully designed to ensure the right results are achieved. In addition, creating succession plans and long term retention strategies are key to ensuring a thriving company in the years to come.

For more information on how you can attract and keep the best people for your organization, please contact Cherryll Sevy at 408.358.7794 or by email.

Serving clients in San Jose, Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay Area & Nationwide