Employee Retention:  Dare to be Different! by Laura Benjamin The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the number of workers age 25-34 will shrink by nearly 9% in the decade ending in 2006. Coincidentally, 2004 also ushers in the beginning of the Big Retirement Rush – when the first wave of baby boomers hits early retirement age. The Public Education Retirement Association forecasts 52,000 members retiring in July 2000 alone! It’s no secret that employee retention in our increasingly scarce labor market is of serious concern. Customer service, manufacturing, and information technology jobs are particularly hard to fill. While the need for IT professionals has doubled in the last decade, we’re still graduating the same number of students from our colleges and universities. Clearly, unconventional steps are called for. As Einstein said, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." A recent conversation with a single mother in a manufacturing firm lead to a discussion of why she would consider leaving her present employer. She’s stayed at least 5 years in every job she’s ever held, but this may soon change. “I love my job and the people I work with, but I’ve interviewed 7 times in the past 6 months. I don’t want to leave, but I will, because of two things: If I’m offered better healthcare benefits than what I’m getting here, and if my relationship with my manager doesn’t improve. I hate the idea of starting all over again – going through that learning curve and being ‘low man’ on the totem pole. If it weren’t for my friends and the healthcare benefits here, I’d be gone.” Managers are the Key She brings up a point that many of us have known all along. Our supervisors and managers hold the key to employee retention and organizational profitability in their hands! THEY are your “most important resource” when it comes to keeping your best and brightest. From the authors of, “First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently,” employees leave managers, not companies. Take the test yourself. What was the REAL reason you left your last job? For most of us, higher pay is usually not the #1 motivator. When the Gallup Organization surveyed 80,000 great managers and 1 million employees, they found that what most employees want more than anything else is a good boss! “If your relationship with your manager is fractured, then no amount of in-chair massaging or company-sponsored dog walking will persuade you to stay and perform. It is better to work for a great manager in an old-fashioned company, than for a terrible manager in a company offering an enlightened, employee-focused culture.” Encourage your leaders to regularly practice the concepts Gallup found contribute to becoming a great manager: 1. Select employees for their innate talents more than their knowledge or skills. (Talents are defined as the recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that leads to excellence.) While many recruiters have been practicing this for years, resistance is still very much alive and well. Talented people can learn the technical skills. Hire them for their capabilities and potential, based on how they’ve applied their talents in the past. 2. Define desired outcomes, not the path for getting there. In other words, focus on the results and throw out the micromanaging. Just because you’re the supervisor doesn’t mean you have to, or should, know all the answers. You’ve hired smart people – allow them the opportunity to show you how smart they really are! 3. Motivate by building on strengths versus managing their weaknesses. As most of us have learned in any relationship…if you approach them with the idea they need to be “fixed,” you’re doomed to failure. Our job, and the most effective way to motive others, is to help them become more of who they already are. Don’t waste your time trying to turn them into something they’re not. 4. Develop your employees by helping them find the right fit between talents and work responsibilities. Encourage them to quantify and analyze their accomplishments on a weekly basis, rather than just through the annual performance review we usually rely on. Look for the areas of strength that reoccur and purposely help them move towards the responsibilities that capitalize on them. Projects, special assignments, involvement in one of the 22,049 professional associations in the U.S., job shadowing, and cross training are all viable options. Don’t simply point them in the direction of the job posting board as their only professional development tool. They can do that just as easily by opening up the “Help Wanted” section of the newspaper! Break With Conventional Wisdom According to the authors, great managers break the rules of conventional wisdom and hold onto talented employees by: *Desiring to help all employees become more of who they already are. *Being willing to treat each person differently. Note: this doesn’t mean we treat people unfairly, but recognizes that people don’t always respond positively to the same approach. *Believe you can be a great manager and a great friend at the same time. Let’s face it, the ongoing challenge for any manager, HR professional, or even parent, is knowing how to walk that fine line. It’s the true test of a professional to know how to draw appropriate boundaries in any setting. Great managers have learned how to employ this highly developed skill to motivate others and stay out of court. *Accept that they cannot change people; the best you can do is help facilitate their growth. *Possess a deeply held trusting nature. Great managers do not strive to “catch” people doing something wrong, but look for the good and work hard to build on it. Retirement Recruiting If you haven’t started developing part-time positions in your organization, now is the time! Survey your existing employees and job applicants for the shifts/hours that will be most attractive to THEM, while still allowing you to meet your operational goals. A survey by Roper Starch Worldwide for the AARP reports that the majority of boomers reaching retirement age want to work part-time as follows: *13% don’t intend to work at all following retirement *30% want to work part time, not because they have to, but because they enjoy their work *25% want to work part time for pleasure and the extra income *23% believe they must keep working out of economic necessity *9% aren’t even considering retirement Based on those numbers, it adds up to 87% of those surveyed who plan to remain in the workplace – the majority of whom are seeking part-time options! What an opportunity! Not only do you capture a large population of people who have experience in the workplace, but they’re also eager to work! Connect with this population now. Establish a collaborative relationship with organizations that administer retirement plans to allow you to advertise your part-time positions through mailer inserts or articles in their newsletters. These organizations routinely sponsor “Pre-retirement” seminars to inform and educate their members – a golden opportunity to propose a job fair or recruiting table on-site. Advertise heavily through your existing employee base to draw in their friends, relatives, and neighbors. Offer recruiting bonuses, and do not make it contingent on recruits staying with the organization for a specified period of time. Your employees have done their job by referring their friends; now it’s up to you to create an environment where people want to stay. Will some exploit this opportunity? Probably, but you’ll be further ahead in the long run. Word of mouth marketing is the most powerful advertising medium! Despite the seriousness of the labor crunch, there are options available if we have the creativity and willingness to consider the unconventional approach. Relying on the same methods and practices we’ve used in the past will not help us respond to the unprecedented demands of a booming economy and a shrinking workforce. Laura Benjamin is Owner of Heartland Speaking, Training, and Consulting specializing in employee retention, human relations, and business development issues. She serves on the Board of the Colorado Springs Society for Human Resource Management and the Colorado Speakers Association. Contact her at 719-266-8088 or email: laura@laurabenjamin.com or visit her Web site at http://www.laurabenjamin.com