61. The Five Common Traits in Best Employers [Canada Newswire] Thursday 01/01/04 4:38 PM
The 50 Best Employers in Canada share the following five traits, according to Hewitt Associates.
1) Leadership
- Leaders share common goals and visions for the organization
- Leaders communicate, are accessible, honest and provide clear direction
- Organizations have leadership development programs
- Employees' perceptions of the leadership are positive
2) Employee Satisfaction
- Employees have a keen desire to be there
- They speak positively about the organization
- They go above and beyond the call of duty to meet company goals
- Employees are matched well with their company and have the ability and drive to achieve success
3) Routine Human Resource tasks are handled flawlessly
Programs such as recognition, performance management and employee development are executed effectively.
4) Benefit programs are designed, communicated and executed effectively
- Meaningful programs that employees understand
- Administered successfully
5) Employees understand the organization's goals and their role in achieving them
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62. New Model for Employee Retention in the Newspaper Industry [Poynter Online] Monday 12/29/03 5:22 PM
In general, newspapers continue to have high turnover rates for reporters. Even when they do all the things that the Retention experts suggest (such as daily praise, bonuses, celebrating birthdays) reporters still move rapidly from one publication to another seeking the much desired career growth.
The newspaper industry, like other industries, operates under the model:
Goal of Employee Retention
Supported by internal incentives
Leads to
Job Satisfaction which encourages
Delaying Career Move
What if things were viewed from the opposite direction?
Focus on career development for the employees
Supported by tailored training
Which leads to Job Satisfaction
Which Grows Employee Retention
With this approach, instead of focusing on employee retention, the focus is on Career Development with the byproduct of this attention being Employee Retention.
The career development plan for this model includes a 4-step approach:
1) Recruit - Be careful in your selection of employees. (See source article for tips for hiring reporters.)
2) Research - On the first days of the job, ask the employee to summarize his or her goals by answering the questions:
-Where do you want to be following your tenure at this company?
-What will it take to get there?
-What are your strengths and weaknesses
3) Reinforce - Create a set of actionable goals consistent with the employee's overall career goal. Include timelines and needed training.
When the time comes that the employee is ready to move on, assist them with help and advice.
4) Repeat - Congratulate the employee and make it known to others of the employee's success.
Other employees will be motivated to continue to reach their goals.
This process will not keep employees indefinitely, but it will create for successful employees that stay for a reasonable period of time.
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63. What Motivates Employees to Stay? [ Find Law] Tuesday 12/23/03 11:19 PM
Employees are motivated to stay with a company because of more than just pay and benefits.
Some of the other more intangible things that encourage employees to stay include:
- Hearing from company leaders about the visions, strategy and future development of the company
- Understanding how their individual contribution makes a difference to the success of the company
- Leaders who listen to employees starting with Senior Managers and working its way through the organization
- Being able to provide input on decisions that affect their jobs
- Having efforts noticed and appreciated
- Excellent supervisors who provide direction, recognition and appreciation
- Being provided the necessary training so they can perform their job well
- Training, development and advancement opportunities that show the employee that the company cares about them
- Understanding that employees have a life outside of their job and respecting their personal needs
- Flexible schedules through programs such as job sharing, part-time and modified scheduling, telecommuting and flextime
There's no need to guess at what your employees want. They are happy to tell you if you give them the opportunity through methods such as exit interviews, surveys and suggestion boxes.
Exit interviews should be analyzed and used to help prioritize needed changes.
There is no one job perk that will keep all employees happy. What really makes the difference is employees knowing that what they do and who they are matters.
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64. More on Call Center Employee Retention [Tech Republic] Tuesday 12/23/03 3:58 PM
In 1998, Kirk Weisler was hired by a call center to help create a positive culture. In three years, the employee turnover rate at this call center dropped from 150% to 17%.
Here are some of Weisler's ideas for motivating and retaining call center staff.
Demotivational
- Downsizing
- Etiquette classes on "how to smile through the phone"
- Finger exercises for greater speed and flexibility
- Focusing too heavily on call volume and less on customer service
Motivational
- Being told you make a difference.
- Training in subjects of the employees' choosing
- Orientation that focuses on both individual and team
- Making work areas comfortable and efficient
- Showing employees their direct/positive effect on the company's success
- Stories about other call center agents who have stepped up to greater positions because of their employment with the company
Lifting employee morale is about making the employees feel they are a part of something important and worthwhile.
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65. How to Improve Call Center Employee Retention [Call Center Magazine] Tuesday 12/23/03 12:31 PM
The following report on Call Center Employee Retention is not new (April 2003) but it is worthy of reviewing at this time.
Employees in Call Centers continue to turnover in high numbers. Call Center managers often have ready excuses of why there is nothing they can do about it. A large number are resigned to the turnover and many do not even conduct exit interviews to find out why their employees are leaving.
Some tactics that can be employed to improve employee retention in call centers include:
- Hiring smart
- Ongoing training
- Tracking progress
- Rewarding those who excel
Growth opportunity is one of the common reasons for leaving cited by call center employees on exit interviews. Even in flat organizations where upward mobility is limited, call centers can create cross-departmental career paths to offer employees opportunity.
If money is tight, public recognition and pride of accomplishments can be even more motivational than salary and bonuses.
Setting up training as a reward instead of as a requirement can boost employees' interest and enthusiasm in continual learning.
There are a number of ways to improve your call center culture to foster increased employee satisfaction and retention.
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66. Turning Turnover into Future Customers [Venture Blog] Thursday 12/18/03 11:01 PM
At New York City law firm giant Cravath, Swaine & Moore, it's expected that young lawyers will join the firm, learn about business and law and leave for a new opportunity.
Not only is it expected, it's encouraged. The Cravath plan promotes attrition while at the same time nurturing bonds with alumni employees which translates into future business for Cravath. Ex-Cravath employees generally move on to client companies, other law firms who might in the future hire Cravath to assist with cases and start-up firms who often choose Cravath to represent them.
To maintain these relationships with former employees, Cravath holds periodic alumni receptions which allow Partners to catch up and network with their former associates.
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67. Best Boss [Working Families] Thursday 12/18/03 10:00 PM
Exit interviews show that one of the common reasons for leaving is because of bad bosses.
Over in the UK, Working Family, who each year seeks out the "Best Boss," has put together a list of the top 10 tips for being a Best Boss.
Included on the list are things such as:
* Treat people as you would want to be treated
* Give credit where it is due
* Set objectives with clear outcomes
* Deal with individual concerns and disciplinary issues promptly
Working Families is seeking nominations for Best Boss 2004.
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68. HR Bills pending in Congress Could help with Retention of Federal Employees [GovExec.com] Thursday 12/18/03 2:42 PM
The Federal Workforce Flexibility Act would authorize federal agencies to provide employee and hiring bonsues of up to 100% of salary. It also expands vacation time offering to mid and senior level employees.
In addition to the enhanced bonus and vacation flexibility, the bill also requires evaluation and improvement of employee training programs.
The awkwardly named Generating Opportunity by Forgiving Educational Debt for Service Act increases the amount that agencies can provide employees to pay off student loan debt to $10,000 per year with a maximum of $60,000. To be eligible for this loan assistance, employees must agree to work for the government for a minimum of three years. If this Act passes, the loan assistance payments would change from being a taxable benefit to being tax-free.
This bill is aimed at recruiting and retaining college graduates who routinely state in exit interviews that they view private sector jobs as being higher paying than government.
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69. Retain Your Best Workers During Slowdowns [The Globe and Mail] Thursday 12/18/03 1:10 AM
The most important time to do something to retain your key employees is when you are cost cutting, because that is the most likely time your best will start looking around.
Recognize your superstars and communicate regularly about redistribution of work and company developments. Retention doesn't have to be about money. Provide your best employees with challenging work, show consequences to those employees who are underperforming and respond to employees' work-family balance and other needs.
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70. Employee Retention Strategies [Harvard Business School] Tuesday 12/16/03 5:10 PM
Many people are predicting an upcoming severe employee shortage due to the retirement of baby boomers and a decrease in workers in the prime 25-34 year old age range. Others believe that the increase in globalism and technology will lessen that impact. Either way, it's important to note that recent studies show that employees are restless to switch jobs when the economy and job market improve.
So what to do about it? Employers need to focus on retention now before the impending crisis. Companies that wait too long may be seen as creating initiatives for self-service purposes rather than out of genuine care for the employees. Employers need to work today on creating a culture that values employees by creating an environment that allows for flexibility, growth and development.
Some strategies that employee focused companies are employing are:
- Train managers on their people management and motivation skills and help them with providing meaningful and fulfilling work experiences for their employees
- Be honest about what you can't give to employees right now and ask what kinds of things they would like that you might be able to provide them
- Understand the preferences and interests of employees and work to meet those preferences
- Allow employees to use their creativity and contribute to the company by soliciting their ideas for ways to improve the bottom line
- Give employees the room to take risks and allow them to be accountable in using their own judgement in decisions making areas
- Keep open lines of communication and make sure Managers are available when employees have questions, ideas and concerns
- Tie Managers compensation to retention rates
- Reward Managers who help good employees grow within the company instead of leaving for other firms
- Conduct one-on-one meetings with employees to communicate the future of the company and the employee's role
- Improve top-down communication and information sharing
- Consider flexible working schedules
- Provide cash bonuses tied into meeting specific earnings targets
- Conduct employee surveys to give employees a voice and allow them to state what would help make them stay with the company
- Act swiftly and openly on the results of employee surveys addressing the issues of concern and ideas that employees raise
The real key in creating a retention oriented environment is in creating a culture that values and sustains employees. What keeps employees committed during good and bad times is the feeling that they are treated with integrity.
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