28 September 2013, Singapore: Yesterday my colleague who is in-charge for one of our HR Center of Excellence (CoE) prompted me to share this article on retaining top talent in an organization. This article was written by Alan Collins - his tips is very straightforward ... don't need a PhD to understand it.
1. Make sure your “A” players report to great managers.
The number one thing any company can do to retain great people is to put them under a great manager. If you can’t do anything else, make sure you do this! It’s been proven that your all-stars don’t leave organizations as much as they leave…poor managers. A great manager knows how to build strong relationships with his or her people through first, their example, then through open, accurate, and consistent communications. Great managers are courageous, encouraging and inspirational. They also stretch and grow their people. A superstar working under an “encourager” who is helping to bring out their best will NOT want to leave.
If you can’t reorganize and put your best people under a great manager right away, then make sure you bring one into their life as a mentor. If you do this, you’ll want to follow up regularly to ensure that there is consistent contact between these two individuals and that the mentoring relationship is working for both.
2. Go to your best people right now and do a pre-exit interview (aka Stay Interview).
Don’t wait for them to get a call from a headhunter or to come to you saying that “I've decided to quit.” Be proactive and ask them in a one on one: “What are the factors that will cause you to stay?” Ask them to warn you if they become unhappy.
The more you can personalize and customize your retention strategy, the more chance you’ll have of keeping your top people. Obviously, if you have organization with 3000 “A” players you can’t devise 3000 different A-player retention programs, but you can do your best to reach all employees through their managers.
The more you and your senior managers can personalize strategies to each of your superstars, the stronger your retention results will be.
3. Verbally ask them to rate their current job on a 1-10 scale on the factors below…and then ask them what corrective steps could be taken to raise any problem scores to a 10.
- My job provides honest, frequent two way communication
- My job provides challenging exciting work
- My job provides opportunities to grow and learn
- In my job, I know my work makes a difference
- In my job, I’m recognized and rewarded for my performance
- I have some degree of control over my job
4. Ask them to describe their ideal job or where they would like to be in 1-2 years.
Then work with them to develop a plan to get them there…TODAY!
5. Tie pay to staying with the company and their performance results.
You may not have total control over this — but give this your best shot! Money is never the only reason that people leave. Generally leadership screws up something first… then money begins to get their attention.
Fix the job first or address their career concerns and then if you give them more money tie it to their results so that they don’t end up staying…”well paid but dissatisfied and uncommitted!”
6. Develop programs that bond them to affinity groups.
One of the hardest things to do is leave in a job where many of your close friends also work. By developing affinity groups (sports, professional groups, play, ethnic, gay and other shared interests) you help build bonds with your top employees beyond just their job. And these bonds are difficult to break.
7. Sponsor programs for their spouses, friends and kids.
Though these programs you positively penetrate their personal lives. You subtly recruit more ambassadors (namely their spouse, partner, friends or family) to your team working on your behalf to keep them in the organization. During their personal time at home, you want these people saying to your high performing talent: “You work for a great organization, why would you ever consider leaving?”
8. Develop a list of “motivators” for each employee you want to retain.
Non-monetary motivators are powerful but most managers are not aware of what motivates an employee. As an HR pro, help your managers develop a list for their best people that they can use to keep them satisfied.
Let me give you an example, when the Bulls were playing against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, one of my finance directors gave his two tickets to see this sold out game to one of his high performing financial analysts (and her boyfriend) who are both big Laker fans.
He asked that she not disclose to anyone else at that he had given away his free Gatorade tickets to the game because I didn't want others to feel slighted. However, he did want to make this high-potential, indispensable member of his staff to know that he thought highly of her and to encourage her to stay with us to build her career with our company.
Some managers would scoff at this practice, saying you should treat everyone the same. I disagree. Obviously, everyone in your organization deserves respect. But, as a business person first, you should consider it acceptable to invest the most in assets that will return more to the organization… like high potential people. This manager didn't have enough Laker tickers to give to everyone, and he did want a future leader of his team know she was valued and that he was going to take care of her. This is what it takes.
By working with your managers to ensure ensure they know the motivations of each member of their staffs you are adding tremendous value to your organization’s retention efforts. Being able to leave at five o’clock to see their child in a school play may work for some employees, but it may not work for another employee who wants two extra days of vacation to run in the Chicago Marathon. Or another who may want to go a technology conference in Florida.
9. Use “pulse surveys.
If you have a large number of HR clients or they’re geographically dispersed, work with your managers to do periodic e-mail surveys of them to get a “pulse” of about how their people feel about the organization. This helps to identify new issues and pain points.
To sum up, obviously, you won’t save 100% your top people by following these recommendations. However, the secrets of keeping high-potential individuals on staff and not lose them to an 5-10% pay increase are very simple. Treat people right. Develop them. Build their career. Challenge them. Make them feel special. Let them know where they stand longer term. Make sure they’re paid well.
