Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to remain in the organization for

the maximum period of time. Corporate is facing a lot of problems in employee retention these days.
Hiring knowledgeable people for the job is essential for an employer. But retention is even more
important than hiring. There is no dearth of opportunities for a talented person. There are many
organizations which are looking for such employees. If a person is not satisfied by the job he’s doing, he
may switch over to some other more suitable job. In today’s environment it becomes very important for
organizations to retain their employees.

Employee Retention: Tips and Tools for Employee

Retention
Employee retention, especially of your best, most desirable employees, is a key challenge in
organizations today. Use these tips, articles, tools and ideas to learn employee retention strategies
that will help you retain your best staff. Learn loyalty strategies for employee retention.

Top Ten Employee Complaints

Are you interested in discovering your employees’ most serious complaints? Knowing what makes
employees unhappy is half the battle when you think about employee work satisfaction, morale,
positive motivation, and retention. Listen to employees and provide opportunities for them to
communicate with company managers. If employees feel safe, they will tell you what’s on their
minds. Your work culture must foster trust for successful two-way communication.

More Tips to Reduce Employee Turnover

Competitive salary, competitive vacation and holidays, and tuition reimbursement are three basics
in employee retention. Especially for millennial employees, these are the holy grail for recruitment
and retention. But, employers can reduce employee turnover in many other ways. (If you think
these read like the Golden Rule, you're right, they do.) Reducing employee turnover is dependant
on the total work environment you offer for employees. Learn more.

Top Ten Ways to Retain Your Great Employees

Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers
readily agree that their role is key in retaining your best employees to ensure business success. If
managers can cite this fact so well, why do many behave in ways that so frequently encourage
great employees to quit their job? Here are ten more tips for employee retention.

The Bottom Line for Employee Retention

Want the bottom line when it comes to employee retention? The quality of the supervision an
employee receives is critical to employee retention. People leave managers and supervisors more
often than they leave companies or jobs. Learn how to help your managers address employee
retention.

How to Retain Your Best Employees

Interested in keeping your best employees when the job market rebounds? Retention will be a
challenge, according to a recent study. Retention requires a competitive salary and great benefits.
However, retention of your best requires a whole lot more. Employee involvement, recognition,
advancement, development and pay based on performance just get you started in your quest to
retain your best.

Keeping the People You Really Need in the Outsourced Economy

The outsourced economy is here to stay. As a leader, you may not relish the idea of outsourcing.
However, the reality is that you may soon need to. When that happens, you will want a workforce
that is nimble, adaptable, and prepared to participate in your organization at a new level of
competitiveness. Organizations that partner with their employees will retain those employees
when they have the opportunity to become free agents.
What People Want From Work: Employee Motivation and Positive Morale
Some people work for personal fulfillment; others work for love of what they do. Others work to
accomplish goals and to feel as if they are contributing to something larger than themselves. The
bottom line is that we all work for money and for reasons too individual to assign similarities to all
workers. Learn more.

Nine Recruiting and Selection Tips to Ensure Successful Hiring

These nine tips will help you in recruiting and hiring a candidate who will become a successful,
contributing superior employee. Learn how job analysis helps you in recruiting and hiring a
superior staff.

Employee Recognition Rocks: Kick Employee Recognition Up a Notch

Employee recognition is limited in most organizations. Employees complain about the lack of
recognition regularly. Managers ask, “Why should I recognize or thank him? He’s just doing his
job.” And, life at work is busy, busy, busy. These factors combine to create work places that fail to
provide recognition for employees. Managers who prioritize employee recognition understand the
power of recognition.

Magnify the Retention Value of Your 401k Plan

Tired of feeling as if your 401k plan doesn't get the appreciation and participation it deserves? You
can maximize the impact of your 401k retirement plan to benefit the people you employ. These
necessary and recommended actions will help you create an appreciated, valued benefit that helps
you achieve your business goals.

Use Your Team for Recruitment: A Retention Strategy

Selecting and retaining great staff is key for business success. Talented people who continue to
develop skills and increase their value to your organization and to your customers are your most
important resource. Here's how to select and retain these people and create an environment in
which they continue to thrive.

Fun and the Bottom Line: Using Humor to Retain Employees

In today's uncertain work environment, humor isn't an option, it's necessary. When employees
clown around, they're not wasting valuable time, they're making use of one of the few tools
available to increase and maintain their group spirit. Laughter may not change reality, but it can
certainly help people survive it. Here's how to use humor to...

Employee Orientation: Keeping New Employees on Board

You want your new employee to experience his new job as a major turn on. Here are tips, tools,
and examples for new employee orientation processes that promote longevity and loyalty.

Poll: Why Do You Stick With Your Employer?

Recruiting and Retention Special

Finding the best possible people who can fit within your culture and contribute within your
organization is a challenge and an opportunity. Keeping the best people, once you find them, is
easy if you do the right things right. Take a look at the helpful features in the Industry and
Business Recruiting and Retention Special.

Keeping Great Employees

Pay people reasonably and treat them great. Don Grimme recommends these top two ways to
retain employees. He presents the findings of the Families and Work Institute.

Retaining Talent in a Competitive Market

In a competitive market, best practices for retaining top talent include offering a stimulating work
environment, flexible career options, an excellent benefit package, and a culture that values staff
contributions.
Retain Top Talent
Employees may enjoy moving around laterally in different jobs. Flexible career options and
knowledge sharing opportunities help to retain your talented employees. See Best Practices, LLC
for more good ideas.

Grimme's Top Ten for Retention

Don Grimme lists his top ten recommended strategies for retaining good employees. No big
surprises here, but this is an excellent reminder worth reading.

Job Stickiness
Core values that are understood and rewarded and feeling a part of a sense of purpose at work are
reasons organizations retain staff. Read more ideas for entrepreneurs at More.Business.com.

Now that so much is being done by organizations to retain its employees, why is retention so
important? Is it just to reduce the turnover costs? Well, the answer is a definite no. It’s not only
the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need of retaining employees but also the
need to retain talented employees from getting poached.

The process of employee retention will benefit an organization in the following ways:

1. The Cost of Turnover: The cost of employee turnover adds hundreds of thousands of
money to a company's expenses. While it is difficult to fully calculate the cost of turnover
(including hiring costs, training costs and productivity loss), industry experts often quote 25% of
the average employee salary as a conservative estimate.

2. Loss of Company Knowledge: When an employee leaves, he takes with him valuable
knowledge about the company, customers, current projects and past history (sometimes
to competitors). Often much time and money has been spent on the employee in
expectation of a future return. When the employee leaves, the investment is not
realized.

3. Interruption of Customer Service: Customers and clients do business with a

company in part because of the people. Relationships are developed that encourage
continued sponsorship of the business. When an employee leaves, the relationships that
employee built for the company are severed, which could lead to potential customer
loss.

4. Turnover leads to more turnovers: When an employee terminates, the effect is felt
throughout the organization. Co-workers are often required to pick up the slack. The
unspoken negativity often intensifies for the remaining staff.

5. Goodwill of the company: The goodwill of a company is maintained when the attrition
rates are low. Higher retention rates motivate potential employees to join the
organization.

6. Regaining efficiency: If an employee resigns, then good amount of time is lost in

hiring a new employee and then training him/her and this goes to the loss of the
company directly which many a times goes unnoticed. And even after this you cannot
assure us of the same efficiency from the new employee

“Effective employee retention is a systematic effort by employers to create and foster an

environment that encourages current employees to remain employed by having policies and
practices in place that address their diverse needs. Also of concern are the costs of employee
turnover (including hiring costs, training costs, productivity loss). Replacement costs usually are
2.5 times the salary of the individual. The costs associated with turnover may include lost
customers, business and damaged morale. In addition there are the hard costs of time spent in
screening, verifying credentials, references, interviewing, hiring, and training the new employee
just to get back to where you started.” (Workforce Planning for Wisconsin State Government,
2005)
How to Improve Employee
Retention
As the economy revives, companies with dissatisfied employees will experience a
swift exodus of their top talent. Here's how to keep your staff engaged and happy.

In a down economy, employees have fewer opportunities to take a job at another

company, but entrepreneurs would be remiss to take their fingers off the pulse of
company morale simply because employees have fewer options. "Companies that don't
think about [employee retention], that basically rest on their laurels and think 'the
economy will take care of us, where are they going to go?' Those are the companies that,
as soon as the labor market picks back up, their turnover rates are going to go from 5
percent to 50 percent and it will happen overnight," says Mark Murphy, author of The
Deadly Sins of Employee Retention and CEO of Leadership IQ, a Washington D.C.-
based executive education firm.

So what's one of the biggest reasons people quit their jobs? "One of the major reasons is
being dissatisfied with their supervisor," says Linda Argote, a professor of organizational
behavior at Carnegie Mellon and editor-in-chief of Organization Science. And in the
cramped confines of a small business, that relationship can create even more of a strain.
"In bigger companies there are more opportunities to move to other jobs if you're
dissatisfied with a particular supervisor but like the firm, whereas smaller companies
may have less options so they run the risk of losing the employee," Argote adds.

How to Improve Employee Retention: Motivation is Not Enough

Bonuses, vacation days, office parties, and many of the tools in a business owner's
arsenal revolve around rewarding employees for a job well done and motivating them to
produce similarly stunning results in the future. But Murphy says that leaders who dole
out these types of perks are only focusing on half of the picture.

There are "two issues generally going on with employees at any given time: there are
'shoves,' things that demotivate people, and then there are 'tugs,' the things that motivate
you, that tug at you to stay at the organization," he says. While these factors will differ for
every employee, leaders often make the mistake of focusing on the motivators without
adequately considering what rubs people the wrong way.

Dig Deeper: Recruiting and Retention Secrets of Inc. 500 Alumni

How to Improve Employee Retention: Keeping the Employee Satisfied

Even if you resolve to be more attuned to employee likes and dislikes, it can be difficult
to ascertain what drives your employees especially when their motives differ from your
own.

In the last 10 years, as CEO of Engage Direct Mail, Dennis Hoffman learned the hard way
that "I never know what's inside people's heads. I used to assume everybody's ambitious
because I'm ambitious and that everybody's motivated by money because I'm motivated
by money, and I've learned through painful experience that that's not the case."

Despite Hoffman's self-professed learning curve, his company actually has a stellar
retention rate for its 130 employees. Engage has a 90-day trial period during which they
evaluate whether new hires are good fits for the company. During that time their
retention rate is about 77 percent and afterwards it is over 95 percent, which is about as
good as you can get. After all, "zero percent turnover is not a thing to aim for," Murphy
explains. You want to retain your high performers and strong matches and gracefully
part ways with your worst performers.

Dig Deeper: Attracting Top Tech People to a Small City

How to Improve Employee Retention: Attracting the Right Candidates

Over the years, Engage has implemented a number of policies that serve the dual
purpose of attracting potential employees and keeping current ones passionate and
committed. Here are a handful of examples:

 Engage gives hiring priority to people who live near the office because they
believe that long commutes are detrimental to work-life balance.

 Instead of a traditional vacation policy, the company lets employees take time off
from a leave bank, in which they can accumulate as many as 60 days off to use as
they see fit. This policy has helped with employee retention, particularly by
making it easier for female employees starting families to take time off and
ultimately return to work.

 During the hiring process, Engage administers the DISC Personality test, which
charts the four characteristics, drive, influence, steadiness, and compliance, to
build personality profiles for new hires. All employees' test results are public
knowledge, which Hoffman feels helps people understand one another and get
along.

 By setting quarterly goals with rewards attached, such as iPods for the whole
team or a trip to a nice restaurant, Engage can encourage employees beyond the
 competitive, and potentially divisive realm of salary bonuses. The group nature of
these rewards is important, says Hoffman, because "somebody who is not
motivated by getting an iPod knows that other people in his or her group are and
doesn't want to let them down."

In addition to spurring employees to productivity, this team structure can make them
happier in the workplace. Argote says, "there's evidence that being in cohesive work
groups where members like each other reduces turnover."

Seven Steps To Increase Employee Retention

By Mike Poskey, ZERORISK HR, Inc.

Many organizations are now realizing the bottom-line effect on retaining quality employees. Retaining

quality performers quite simply adds to increased productivity and morale, while reducing the associated

costs of turnover. As a business executive, doesn’t it make sense to have business processes that add

efficiencies to how you conduct business to reach your corporate objectives and provide a positive

perception in the marketplace and to your customers?

Why is Employee Retention Critical to Business Success?

 Projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecast a shortage of 10,033,000 workers by

2010.

 Turnover analysis reports continue to show that the cost of unwanted turnover can be 1.5 times

the employee’s annual salary.

 Employee turnover’s greatest cost is lost business and productivity.

When I consult with companies, the subject of identifying and retaining top talent is always one of the

critical items executives tell me they’d like to improve upon. However, when I ask what their strategy is

in that regard they either mention that they’ve found this great recruiting firm that is going to do

nothing but send them top-level talent, or they look at me and tell me the people that have left were no

good to begin with, basically rationalizing the cause of the turnover.

There are a couple of flaws with this line of reasoning. First, just because a recruiter has sent you top-

level talent doesn’t mean that employee is going to stay and prosper with your organization. I can’t tell

you how many talented employees I’ve seen leave organizations because they were either miscast for

the job, management style, or corporate culture. Secondly, never assume a turnover problem exists just

because the employee was no good to begin with. Job fit and performance go well beyond just having a

talented employee. As with any business goal, you have to implement a proven process and strategy to

attain that goal. The following will outline a seven step strategy to increase employee retention, one that
helped one Fortune 500 Company realize a 67 percent increase in retention in the first year of

implementing all seven steps.

1. Conduct job analysis audits to provide realistic job previews. Conduct job analysis audits with

behavioral assessments, cognitive reasoning assessments, job simulations, and hard skills

assessments (e.g., computer skills, etc.) to objectively define the core competencies required

for success in each role (competency modeling). This helps in providing a realistic job preview

for candidates and managers. Oftentimes what managers think they need for a certain role is

different from that they actually need.

2. Implement a well-designed assessment and selection process. Include behavioral assessments

and structured behavioral interviewing techniques to increase the likelihood of hiring people that

can, and will, do the job at a high level in your environment and for your managers (job fit

assessment).

3. Provide good employee orientation. The people you hire today are potentially your greatest

resource for corporate success in the years ahead. As a senior leader, your participation in new

employee orientation sends a vital cultural and leadership message: "We’re all involved here in

the drive toward what we want to be in the future." Everyone—even the newest employee—has

value.

4. Implement programs for employee training and development. Provide ongoing professional

development to show your willingness as an organization to develop your greatest asset—your

people.

5. Improve manager and employee relationships. Concentrate on the people that stay with you to

learn what makes them happy … then give them more of it! "People leave managers, not

companies. If you have a turnover problem, look first at your managers," Marcus Buckingham

and Curt Coffman write in First, Break All the Rules.

6. Provide an equitable or fair pay system. Be competitive!

7. Encourage succession planning. Identify roles for which employees may be suited in the future

and work with them on designing their succession plan within the organization. Invest in cross-

training, job shadowing, coaching, mentoring, and cross-experience.

In summary, many organizations are already using several of the aforementioned steps, but may be

lacking or deficient in the other steps. Each step is critical to the overall success of a comprehensive

employee retention plan.

An Employee Retention Strategy that Delivers Results

At The Rainmaker Group we are committed to helping you Maximize Possibility by creating an employee
retention program and provide you with the proper retention training system that will identify and retain the top
performers within your organization.

We understand that time is money to your organization. Every minute of every day that your employee retention
problems persist your organization is losing valuable time, energy, and resources.
With the use of the powerful tools at our disposal, our employee retention experts will get to know your team
and organizational culture better than you could have ever imagined. By doing so we can get down to the real
causes of employee turnover in your organization and develop retention program that is right for your team.

Our employee retention training programs deliver results - we guarantee it!

Our clients always see a sizable return on investment in the form of improved profitability, reduced employee
turnover, and enhanced employee morale.

Stop unwanted employee turnover dead in its tracks and get back to doing what you do best: growing and
leading your organization!

Employee retention - did you know?

 The cost of employee turnover can range between 1/2 to 4 times an employee's annual wages and
benefits
 80% of turnover can be attributed to mistakes during the hiring process(Harvard Business Review)
 Employee retention has as much to do with who you hire as what you do after he or she is hired
 Traditional methods of hiring employees only provide a 14% likelihood of a successful job hire
(Michigan State University)

An ineffective employee retention strategy can drive any manager crazy. The crippling effects employee
turnover costs can have on your organization's efforts to consistently turn a profit only adds to the stress you
are already under as a leader in your organization. Don't despair. You can do something about the high cost of
employee turnover, dwindling levels of retention , and the steady outflow of quality workers!

How we can help improve your current employee retention program:

 We identify top performing team members and develop strategies to ensure they stay with your
organization
 We can identify the reasons why an employee will leave before they are ever hired
 We will help you select and hire great employees who are well fit for the job and your organizational
culture
 We can help to improve communication and morale - two key elements that affect employee retention
 We will assist in determining growth opportunities for team members and develop customized training
that will improve performance

There are few if any issues that business leaders face today that are more important than the effort to hire and
retain good employees. An effective employee retention program can have a dramatic impact on your
organization's bottom line. As employees grow so does your business, and its bottom line. It might seem like
common sense, but it can't be understated: an organization is only as good as the people it employs.

What if...

 Your turnover rate was half that of the competition

 You were able to hire employees who are truly fit for the job position
 You could divert money from recruitment efforts to better train existing employees
  You were able to know with certainty what actions to take to retain key team members

Imagine the possibilities!

There are two key components to an effective employee retention strategy

 The Employee Selection Process - who you choose to fill job vacancies
 The Human Development Process - what you do after the employee is hired

Here at The Rainmaker Group our employee retention experts have some of the most powerful tools available
to help you select the best employees and effectively coach and motivate your employees after they are hired.
Give us a call today. We are here to help and would love to hear from you!