Employee Retention
A challenge that many business owners and their businesses face for many different reasons is employee turnover or even deciding whether there should be turnover because someone on the team is not performing well.
One way to determine what turnover is actually costing your company or organization is the Checklist of Turnover Costs tool which is included in this discussion. Some turnover can actually be beneficial because the departed employee had a poor attitude and/or was not capable of performing the required responsibilities. Other turnover may be less desirable because of its impact on company credibility with clients, demoralization of other staff or the lost “tribal knowledge”, among other factors, when an employee leaves.
Strategic Essentials is highly experienced in employee retention techniques, starting with a successful hiring process that includes:
- Hiring process
- Policy and procedures
- Orientation
- Training and Development
- Management/leadership that will retain the employee
Hiring, coupled with managing well, affects every aspect of a company, from productivity, to workplace satisfaction, to worry-free vacations for top management. It is just one piece – but a very important one – for business success.
For entire article see Your Business Success is in the Hands of Your Employees
Success Stories:
Case Brief: Good Employees Mean Vacation Time
A family-run distribution company came to Strategic Essentials with what they saw as an insurmountable problem. They could not take a vacation of more than one day away from their 70-hour workweeks without jeopardizing their production.
In addition to business consulting, they specifically needed to find someone – that perfect someone – who could be comfortable in a warehouse setting, work with outdated computer systems (at least at first), learn thousands of products, be ready to shoulder increasing responsibility, and be highly detailed.
This one hire was the lynchpin for further expansion and development. We found this individual by screening through numerous people, many of whom seemed competent. We needed exactly the right person, and we found that person. The difference for the company was profound. The leadership is now taking vacations, and the staff is capable of keeping the company running successfully in their absence.
Case Brief: Too Much Business
A business came to us with what seems at first glance to be an enviable problem: too much business. They had basic needs such as manageable systems and structure. But even more, they had few staff guidelines, no job descriptions, along with poor attitudes and job performance from staff.
Their hiring challenge went past bringing people into the door. It encompassed bringing the RIGHT people in, and then motivating them and giving them performance guidelines. Job satisfaction and productivity amongst their staff was critically low.
Through a mix of consulting and organizational development, this client developed standards, hiring practices, management techniques, and accountability. This focus and combination was what this firm needed to shift their organizational culture and their results!
Case Brief: Disruptive Staff in a Non-Profit Corporation
Non-profit corporations attract employees with a passion for their cause. This is a good thing, but for one non-profit that came to us, that same passion was holding them back and burning out some of their key staff. One employee was also particularly disruptive.
Our first task with this group was to work with the leadership on management skills and handling disruptive situations in the workplace. Our goal was to improve workplace satisfaction. Because their non-profit guidelines made it almost impossible to let the disruptive staff member go, we worked on effective leadership.
And we worked on understanding what to look for while hiring for new positions to lessen the potential of similar challenges in the future. It takes more than a passion for a cause to be effective for the cause.
