| In the
first two segments of this article,
we explored how understanding and satisfying
core human needs in the workplace is
a far more effective strategy than
bribing employees with goodies and
gimmicks. In the second segment of
this article, we explored four critical
human needs that influence employee
retention: |
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1. |
Pride in One’s
Work and Employer |
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| 2. |
Work That Has Meaning |
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| 3. |
Understanding The Goal and One’s
Role |
|
| 4. |
To Be a Player And Not Just a Hired
Hand |
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| |
| In this
third and final segment, we will examine
two more human needs that affect your
organization’s ability to create
a loyal and passionate workforce. These
are: |
|
| |
1. |
The Chance to Experience
Efficacy |
|
| 2. |
To Be Heard |
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| |
At the end of this segment,
you will find a “Next Steps” section
with eight things you can do to translate
this information into the beginning of
a successful, comprehensive retention strategy.
But for now, let’s examine how your
organization satisfies these two other
critical human needs.
Do Employees Get to Feel the “Thrill
of Victory” in Their Work?
We are also hard-wired to desire the feeling
of mastery, the “thrill of victory” that
comes from doing something effectively.
Whether it comes in the form of solving
a problem, completing a task, or conquering
a challenge, mastery provides intrinsic
pleasure. The behavior of babies and small
children demonstrates the fundamental and
self-reinforcing nature of this drive.
Nobody has to reward a baby to encourage
it to try relentlessly to stand up or tie
its shoes. “The thrill of victory” is
reward enough.
The same is true for people at work. Nothing
leads to feeling good and feeling good
about oneself, like being good at something
worthwhile. Conversely, few things create
a demoralized workforce more effectively
than preventing them from doing their jobs
well. Improving morale and retention requires
examining your organization for the typical
ways organizations hamstring efficacy,
such as inadequate training, out-dated
technology, and job expectations shrouded
in mystery. Besides affecting retention,
these obstacles strongly impact productivity.
A 1995 study by Yankelovich Partners for
the firm of William M. Mercer revealed
that the average worker surveyed reported
they could be 26 percent more productive
if it weren’t for the following obstacles,
listed in order of importance: lack of
direction, support, training, and proper
equipment. |
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Questions
to ask your Managers and Employee Advisory
Council: |
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| |
1. |
Do we prepare our employees
to do their jobs well, through adequate
orientation and training? |
|
| 2. |
Do we have any jobs where failure
and inadequacy are the primary experiences
employees have? |
|
| 3. |
Do we provide the technology and
logistical support for employees to
do their jobs well? |
|
| 4. |
Do our managers know how to set clear
expectations, give clear feedback,
and perform productive performance
reviews? |
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| |
Do Employees Feel Heard?
Few things enrage employees more than when
senior management doesn’t bother
to ask for their feedback or ask how they
are doing. Although getting employee feedback
is Management 101, many senior managers
plow ahead with new initiatives or maintain
unproductive practices without bothering
to ask how they are “playing among
the troops.” I’ve often been
struck by the power of the need to be heard
when conducting focus groups with organizations
having serious morale and turnover problems.
On several occasions one or more employees
will sigh at the end of the focus group
and say “Whew, I feel so much better
just being able to say what’s on
my mind. Now I can get back to work.” When
I hear this, I can’t help but think
of the morale and productivity increases
the organization would enjoy if they implemented
formal and informal processes that engaged
their employees in an ongoing conversation
about how they are doing. |
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Questions
to ask your Managers and Employee Advisory
Council: |
|
| |
1. |
Do our employees believe
we listen to them? |
|
| 2. |
Do our employees believe we care
about what they have to say? |
|
| 3. |
Do we actively solicit feedback from
employees, both formally and informally? |
|
| 4. |
Do our managers ask their subordinates
for input on how to improve as a manager? |
|
| 5. |
Do we respond to employee feedback
promptly, letting them know what is
being done – or not – with
their feedback? |
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| 6. |
Do we make it safe for employees
to express dissatisfaction and disagreement,
or do we label them “not a team
player”? |
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| |
Getting the Biggest
Bang For Your Retention Buck
If you’re serious about holding onto
your best people, you cannot ignore the
results from Gallup’s research involving
over 2 million employees. Curt Coffman
and Marcus Buckingham, the primary researchers
in the project make clear the critical
role managers play in an organization’s
ability to retain talented people: “If
you have a turnover problem look first
to your managers,” they assert. “People
leave managers, not companies.”
How a boss treats an employee is the strongest
determinant of their work experience. Just
as in customer service the truism goes: “To
the customer, the employee serving them
is the company”; to the employee,
their manager is The Employer. Having supervisors
who haven’t been properly trained
or aren’t held accountable for how
they treat their people is a recipe for
low morale and high turnover.
Quint Studor, CEO of Baptist Hospital in
Pensacola, Florida, who has led the hospital
from being a below average hospital into
a national exemplar of patient and employee
satisfaction, notes that a vital part of
their turnaround was investing in an area
most organizations give short shrift: management
development. At Baptist, managers at all
levels are taken off-site for two days,
every 90 days. After just two years, overall
employee satisfaction had risen 30% while
nursing turnover – something no hospital
can afford in today’s labor market – had
decreased by 40%.
Thus, perhaps the most important action
your organization can take, is to provide
your managers with the training and support
to do their jobs well, and to hold them
accountable. Not only will your employees
be happier, but so will your managers,
because they’ll be more effective.
Taking the Next Step
Retaining employees – especially
your best ones – requires more than
Goodies and Gimmicks. It requires understanding
what human needs drive satisfaction and
high performance, and then using this knowledge
to create an intrinsically motivating work
experience. If you do this, you will become
an organization that truly is Retention-Worthy. |
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Here are some next steps to put these ideas into action:
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1. |
Create an Employee Advisory
Council and use the preceding questions
as a catalyst for exploring how to
create a more intrinsically satisfying
work experience. |
|
| 2. |
Use the preceding questions to engage
your management team in the same conversation. |
|
| 3. |
Actively involve your workers in
generating and executing solutions. |
|
| 4. |
Stay connected with the voice of
your workers through surveys, focus
groups, town hall meetings, Q&A
coffees, informal check-ins by managers,
and your Employee Advisory Group. |
|
| 5. |
Impress upon your management team
that retention is a everyone’s
job, not HR’s. |
|
| 6. |
Invest in management development.
Help your managers increase their Emotional
Intelligence Quotient (EQ) by learning
about human nature and how it affects
employee performance. Help them develop
the skills to bring out the best in
their supervisees. |
|
| 7. |
Support your managers’ development
by instituting a coaching and mentoring
program for them. |
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| 8. |
Hold managers accountable by using
appropriate goals and metrics in their
performance evaluations. |
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| For Parts I and II, go to the Employee
Retention article section.
|
