The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the number of workers age 25 to 34 will shrink by nearly 9 percent in the 10 years 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 forecasted 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 Albert 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 led to a discussion of why she would consider leaving her present employer. She's stayed at least five 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 seven times in the past six months. I don't want to leave, but I will because of two things: If I'm offered better health care 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 health care benefits here, I'd be gone."
Managers are the Key
Our supervisors and managers hold the key to employee retention and organizational profitability in their hands. They are the most important resource when it comes to keeping the 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. What was the real reason you left your last job? For most of us, higher pay is usually not the No. 1 motivator.
When the Gallup organization surveyed 80,000 managers and 1 million employees, they found 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.
- 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 lead to excellence. While many recruiters have been practicing this for years, resistance is still 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.
- Define desired outcomes, not the path for getting there. 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 them how smart they really are.
- Motivate by building on strengths vs. managing their weaknesses. If you approach employees with the idea they need to be "fixed," you've doomed to failure. The most effective way to motivate others is to help them become more of who they already are.
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 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 United States, job shadowing and cross training are all viable options. Break with conventional wisdom. According to the authors, great managers break the rules of conventional wisdom and hold onto talented employees by:
- Helping 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. The true test is knowing how to draw appropriate boundaries in any setting.
- Accept that you 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.
