RETENTION STRATEGY THAT WORKS

Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations;
spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
     - Isaiah 54:2 (The Bible)

Employees leave organizations because they are employees.
Enable employees to share the ownership with owners and
they will never leave the organization they are in.
      - TAK Mathews, Principal Associate, TAK & ASSOCIATES, Mumbai

INTRODUCTION:
I would fully agree with TAK Mathews in that employees leave organizations they are in because they truly feel they are employees and not owners. At least in India no owner has ever left the organization he is in. Perhaps sharing ownership and sharing profit possibly could be a very powerful retention strategy.

Employee satisfaction and employee productivity are interlinked with employee retention.

THE CHALLENGE OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION:
In any organization any unwanted departures represents a loss in the intellectual capital of the business. Long-term, loyal employees carry the values of the organization, knowledge of organizational processes and sensitivity to the needs of customers. Inability to retain talented employees is a sure sign that we are losing ground. That we are sliding downward on a downward spiral.

HOW DO WE RETAIN TALENTED EMPLOYEES ?
It would be stating the obvious if we say:
One, satisfied employees are a precondition for increasing productivity,
responsiveness, quality and customer service.                 
Two, employees who scored highest in the satisfaction survey ( Rockwater study)tended to have the most satisfied customers.  
Three, to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, companies may need to have the customers served by satisfied employees.

Employee morale is especially important for service businesses where, frequently, the lowest paid and lowest skilled employee interact directly with valued customers.

A few practical ways of retaining talented employees could be:
(a)     involvement in taking decisions
(b)     recognition for doing a good job
(c)     access to sufficient information to do the job well
(d)    active encouragement to be creative
(e)     active encouragement to use initiative
(f)     direct and indirect support from staff functions
(g)    sincerely learn to appreciate loyalty
(h)    enhance employees skills
(i)     upgrade employees morale

The Numerator-Denominator formula:
Learn to increase the numerator ( increasing revenue per employee ) without increasing the denominator ( number of employees ). Most often, decreasing the denominator ( downsizing ) yield short-term benefits but risks sacrificing the long-term capabilities. However, outsourcing functions help increase the revenue per employee.

CONCLUSION:
Retaining employees would necessarily mean being serious about the drivers of learning and growth and keenly re-skilling the existing workforce through –
-    employees competencies such as strategic skills, training levels and skill leverage
-    technology infrastructure such as experience capture, strategic warehousing,
     strategic technologies and data mining
-    creating a climate for action such as employee teaming and alignment.

Click here to read previous Thoughts of Dr. Buhril here