April 2008

Engagement = Retention

Many managers are confident that they are doing right by their employees. Each year performance reviews are given, or not given, as a sign that all is well in the workplace. No need then for managers to worry about their staffing plan, let alone about which leaders and employees will stay, which will leave and what they should do about both scenarios. They're covered. Right ? Well, perhaps in this case the old adage that no news is good news is misleading.

Leaders and managers are fielding increased recruiter calls, and employees are seeing a swell in Internet Job Boards and candidate outreach strategies.

Employees at all levels are taking note of the job market. A wide range of studies and marketing material are suggesting that almost one-third of all Internet users visited a career services site in the past six months, with job searches on Web sites for Monster, Career Builder, Workopolis and Yahoo! increasing by an average of 32% over the previous year.

Programs are in place in many organizations to support retention. The obvious programs are extended holiday periods for years of service, additional benefits plans, compensation and other initiatives. All of these actions are designed to reward employees for staying in hope that others will follow the lead and stay too. The theory is that if one person leaves, four others watch them leave and start to wonder about why they are staying. Retention is the measurement of success.

The real reason why most people quit a job often has little to do with logic and less to do with anything as quantifiable as salary or how much vacation time or dental coverage is available. Employees leave because they feel slighted. Nobody made them feel like they were an important part of something bigger than themselves. They feel disengaged and on the outside of the organization.

Engagement Equals Retention

You have probably heard the joke where a manager is asked how many people work in his company and his reply is, "About half of them." Very funny the first time you hear it, but in reality this is no laughing matter. When you look at the statistics you begin to understand just how much time, energy and resources are wasted in organizations.

With most business measurements we are quick to create a numerical result or quantity (how many stay, how many leave). It is less common to see a report that refers to quality measurements such as employee productivity and engagement. Think of Retention as the quantity and Engagement as the quality. Considering only Retention without concern for Engagement is much like being okay with having an employee cease working, but remain on payroll, still consuming internal resources and perhaps even dragging a few others around with them.

Make your workplace the best that you can

If the only service you really give your employees now is lip service, you've got to resolve to do better. Treat your employees as you would your own stockholders. Take no one for granted, least of all your most valued people. Recognize excellence. Level with your employees about your decisions--explain to them ‘why’ with straight talk. Show a little heart. Above all, remember that just as workers leave for emotional reasons, it is also why they stay.

What You Can Do

One of the most significant benefits of the tools in the HiringSmart process is the ability of a manager to know themselves and know each member of their team with a depth of information that can only be attained through the tools. But knowing yourself and knowing your people is not enough: you need to use this information to maximize your working relationship with your group, both as individuals and as a cohesive unit.

When people find themselves compatible with their supervisors/leaders and co-workers, it tends to be much easier to work together. But in the workplace, compatibility is not always achieved . . . and not always desirable. At the highest level in the company, different disciplines, behaviours and talents are needed as they relate to functional roles (general management, sales, engineering, operations, etc.). Working with the various departments of an organization, you will always find needed uniqueness of individuals to achieve desired results. As a result, “personality clashes” can occur. If not understood . . . and addressed, they can get in the way of productivity and even lead to dissension which can have a negative effect on departmental success.

The quality of the relationship between manager (executive, director, supervisor, team leader) and employee significantly impacts employee performance. Managers and employees who understand each other’s style are highly productive and engaged. However, managers who are “out of sync” with their employees often cause low productivity, dwindling morale and high employee turnover. A significant factor that drives employee engagement and productivity is their relationship with their boss. Research consistently shows the primary reason employees leave a company is because of conflict with their manager. The more a manager understands an employee, the more effective they can be.

«  When people become more knowledgeable about each other’s uniqueness, differences and areas in common, compatibility increases. More work gets accomplished. Greater engagement results in increased productivity . »

– Jim Maloney, President
United Freight Services

Create Management Strategies Tailored for Every Employee

Every employee/manager relationship is unique and requires a different management strategy to achieve best results. For example, the relationship and management strategies between a highly decisive boss and a highly decisive employee will be significantly different than the relationship the same boss has with a less decisive employee. The decisive employee thrives on quick decisions, while the other will be more methodical in their decision making approach, potentially conflicting with the faster-paced Manager. A “one size fits all” management approach used for both employees will likely result in frustration for everyone.