How to Retain the Best Talent
Do you know there are companies that secretly monitor how often their employees leave the office premises or visit career sites on their work devices?
Creepy, right? As it turns out, these companies are often attempting to monitor potential employee turnovers. After all, turnover is expensive and high performing employees are really valuable! If a company can know in advance which employees are looking to switch jobs, it can offer better incentives to improve employee retention.
In fact, some companies even hire external consultants that keep track of their employees’ social media activity to predict if they are looking for a new job! Even creepier, but if it can bring costs down, why not? As this Harvard Business Review points out, in 2014 similar practices helped Credit Suisse reduce attrition by 1% saving approximately $75 to $ 100 million in rehiring and training costs.
But what if we told you there is an even better, more effective, and less intrusive way to retain top talent and bringing down turnover costs? Here is your 4-step plan:
Discover the Reasons Talent Leaves Your Company
Every employee has his or her own reason for leaving a job. Some don’t like their boss, some feel unappreciated, others have enumeration issues, and so forth. And while employers can’t control every factor involved in attrition, they can be aware of the reasons that are ultimately instrumental in convincing employees not to leave. For example, managers tend to mostly focus on poor-performing employees, leaving top performers neglected. So if such employees are planning to leave, the key to retaining them lies not in appraisals but appreciation. Conversely, those with enumeration issues have to be convinced with appraisals and not appreciation.
Recognize the Triggers For Employee Attrition
While each employee has his or her own reason for leaving a job, there are a few common triggers that finally set the desire into action. Employees are known to evaluate their career options during key milestones like birthdays and work anniversaries. As per the Harvard Business Review report, job hunting jumps 16% after employees come back from class reunions. So if you know your top performer is turning, say, 40 this year or is completing 5 years in your firm, you better pay more attention to him or her. The sooner you recognize these triggers, the better your retention strategy will be.
Use Quantitative Metrics with Employees
The performance of an employee generally dips in the preceding weeks of his or her resignation: the clearest indication they have made up their mind. Our own assessment has revealed that there is a 30% decrease in activity 30 days prior to resignation. To get such clear insights, you need to continuously track the activities of each employee and look for fluctuations. Prodoscore does exactly that. It integrates with all your business tools to generate real-time reports on the activities of each employee which can then be used for a variety of purposes.
Replicate Top Employees
This is more of a plan B than it is a strategy to retain talent. If you know one of your key employees is planning to leave, the best you can do is make a better counteroffer. But counter offers can only delay the inevitable. If an employee has made up his or her mind to leave, no matter the incentives, he or she would leave at some point. In that case, the best option managers have is to learn and replicate all their tricks to the entire team. By turning each employee into a better performer, the impact of their resignation can be highly softened.
Closing Remarks
To wrap things up, there are two basics that all employers need to know about attrition:
- Employers don’t resign out of blue. There are always backstories and triggers involved.
- There are always subtle indications before the resignation.
If you can accurately assess both these factors, not only can you deliver better employee satisfaction and reduce attrition, but also save significant cost overheads of turnover. Try Prodoscore today to get started.
