Employee Retention: A Blueprint for Improving Success: Part Three: Building Successful Retention

In this final section of our three-part blueprint series on the Value of Employee Retention and Solution Approaches, we explore the how to make improvements in employee retention and what plans, programs and actions would strengthen the employee experience, better support employee needs and reduce turnover.

Benefits of Meeting Employee Needs

Accommodating employees’ every need is not possible or the sole objective, but customizing and developing appropriate employee strategies, programs, and solutions to meet their needs can and will improve talent retention. Meeting the unique, personal needs of employees is important as often these needs are NOT met by holistic, company wide programs. Tailored approaches have many benefits:

·???????? Increased Employee Satisfaction: Customizing strategies to individual or team needs increases job satisfaction as employees feel valued and acknowledged.

·???????? Higher Engagement Levels: Personalized programs boost engagement by supporting employees' unique career aspirations and personal development goals.

·???????? Improved Retention Rates: Customized retention strategies address specific reasons employees might leave, effectively reducing turnover rates.

·???????? Lower Absenteeism Levels: Addressing various causes of absenteeism, including mental health and stress, job dissatisfaction, workload, relationship issues, helps lower absenteeism rates.

·???????? Enhanced Productivity: Meeting employees' needs through customized solutions leads to better performance by aligning roles with their skills and interests.

·???????? Talent Attraction: Organizations with personalized employee development strategies are more attractive to top talent.

·???????? Supports Diversity and Inclusion: Tailored programs support a diverse workforce by accommodating differences and promoting inclusivity.

·???????? Adaptability to Change: Customized strategies make organizations more adaptable to workforce and market changes by addressing evolving employee needs.

·???????? Fosters a Positive Company Culture: Personalizing employee programs contributes to a supportive culture where unique contributions and circumstances are respected.

Customizing employee retention strategies is a critical aspect of modern HR management. It not only enhances employee satisfaction and engagement but also contributes to the overall success and competitiveness of the organization.

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Next, we explore how to meet and support the personal and unique needs of employees. This is essential for fostering engagement and ensuring a rewarding work experience. This approach not only helps in retaining talent but also enhances productivity and workplace morale.

Strategies to Meet Employee Individual/Unique/Personal Needs

Here are the best strategies for achieving this:

1.?????? Personalized Career Development Plans:

Work with each employee to create a personalized career development plan that aligns with their career goals, skills, and interests. Include opportunities for training, certifications, and mentorship. This shows employees that the organization is invested in their growth and career progression.

2.?????? Flexible Work Arrangements:

Offer flexible work arrangements, such as remote work options, flexible hours, and part-time opportunities. This accommodates employees’ varying personal commitments and lifestyles, helping them achieve a better work-life balance.

3.?????? Recognition and Appreciation:

Implement a comprehensive recognition program that acknowledges employees' contributions in meaningful ways. Personalize recognition to match what each employee values most, whether it's public acknowledgment, monetary rewards, or professional development opportunities.

4.?????? Health and Wellness Programs:

Provide health and wellness programs that cater to physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This could include gym memberships, wellness challenges, mental health days, and access to counseling services. Offering a range of programs ensures diverse needs are met.

5.?????? Open and Effective Communication Channels:

Maintain open lines of communication through regular check-ins, surveys, and feedback mechanisms. Ensure employees feel heard and that their suggestions can lead to real changes. Creating an environment of trust encourages employees to share their needs and concerns.

6.?????? Inclusive and Supportive Culture:

Foster an inclusive workplace culture that respects and celebrates diversity. Provide support for employees from different backgrounds, life stages, and with varying needs, ensuring that policies and practices consider the breadth of employee experiences.

7.?????? Financial and Job Security:

Offer competitive salaries, benefits, and job security to alleviate financial worries. Financial well-being programs, retirement planning assistance, and transparent communication about company performance and job stability can support these needs.

8.?????? Team-Building and Social Opportunities:

Organize team-building activities and social events that cater to a wide range of interests, facilitating connections among employees. These opportunities for informal interaction can enhance team cohesion and employee satisfaction.

9.?????? Empowerment and Autonomy:

Empower employees by giving them autonomy over their work, where possible. Encourage innovation and allow employees to take ownership of projects. This autonomy supports personal growth and fulfillment.

10.?? Support for Personal Emergencies:

Establish policies that provide support during personal emergencies, such as bereavement leave, family care leave, and flexible scheduling. Knowing the organization supports them during difficult times can significantly impact employee loyalty and engagement.

11.?? Relationships, Trust, Communication and Listening

The need for strong trusting relationships cannot be underestimated and they are critical to employee retention. This includes respect, dignity, empathy, caring and support from management levels to employees and can help significantly to deal with frustrations and stresses.

There are also several new, emerging needs as workplaces change and some can and will apply to healthcare:

·???????? Work from Home/ Hybrid/Telehealth or Virtual work models

·???????? Increasing mental health issues, stress and burnout

·???????? ESG- Environmental, Social and Governance

·???????? Generational challenges and disconnects

·???????? Cultivating employee engagement drivers

·???????? Alignment of values and building common goals, work purpose and meaning. (examples: When employee’s purpose is to help sick people, but this becomes difficult or there are too many distractions and administrative challenges it can create some disconnects and frustrations OR if a person is people oriented they may want to be in a customer facing role.)

·???????? Impartiality and fairness

By implementing these strategies, organizations can create a supportive environment that meets the unique and personal needs of each employee, leading to higher engagement, job satisfaction, and retention. This customized approach acknowledges employees as individuals with diverse needs and aspirations, ultimately contributing to a positive and rewarding work experience.

Tools, Training and Processes

Today there are various support services available to organizations that help better plan, implement and manage employee retention strategies.

Tools

Assessment and benchmarking tools are essential to understand where the frustrations and disconnects are that eventually, if not addressed, lead to resignations and turnover. Without this data organizations will struggle to find solutions. With this data organizations can customize and tailor support services, programs and corrective actions to specifically meet the individual needs of employees so that their issues and concerns are addressed and rectified before they become pain points and resentment and lead to turnover.

These tools can provide senior leaders and HR with insights on where the disconnects are, who successfully engages with the strategies and improvement exercises, how well managers are doing in executing their relationships (such as conducting 1:1s with employees, supporting efforts to create more rewarding employee experiences, take actions to make improvements, etc.

Artificial Intelligence can also play a role in monitoring and analyzing network interactions and understanding team needs to provide managers with real time feedback on disconnects and frustrations so issues can be addressed immediately and corrective actions taken.

Training

Training requirements are an extension of roles and responsibilities (that was discussed in the “Clarity of Role” section in article one). Simply assigning someone responsibilities and tasks is not enough. They need the knowledge, skills and support to make it happen. Training can involve two key elements:

???????? I.??????????? Knowledge on systems and processes to optimize information and data that can support employee retention.

?????? II.??????????? Building the people skills and abilities that strengthen relationships, increase trust and create the positive emotions, connections and experiences that lead to employee retention.

Managers don’t always realize the strong influence they have on employee career and job enjoyment. Yet they are often the person in the strongest position to influence and impact several employee engagement and retention drivers.? Often, they do not understand their role in the retention process and have never received formal training on managing people and supporting and meeting their needs as part of their leadership. Many times, managers only focus on performance and achieving goals and objectives, but they also have a critical role in the retention process.

Direct managers are often considered the face of the company to employees due to their pivotal role in shaping the employees' day-to-day work experiences and perceptions of the company. Here’s why:

o?? First Point of Contact: Often their manager is their primary point of contact

o?? Interpreters of Company Policy and Culture: Managers play a crucial role in interpreting policy

o?? Providers of Feedback and Recognition: Managers offer feedback, recognition, etc to provide a sense of value.

o?? Communication Channel: Managers act as the communication conduit between senior leadership and the workforce.

o?? Support and Development: Managers are responsible for supporting and developing their team

o?? Performance Discussions: Monitoring and providing feedback on performance results, targets and objectives is crucial to help the employee understand their work responsibilities and know what is expected of them and how they can overcome roadblocks and challenges.

o?? Day-to-Day Problem Solving: On a practical level, managers are the go-to people for solving daily work-related problems and challenges.

o?? Personalization of the Employee Experience: Unlike senior leaders who may seem distant due to their broader organizational focus, managers personalize the employee experience.

In essence, direct managers are the lens through which employees view the company. Their actions, attitudes, and leadership styles not only impact the immediate work environment but also shape employees' overall perception and experience of the company. This is why effective management is critical to employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

Key Facts

·???????? According to a study from The Workforce Institute at?UKG , 70% of people report their manager has “the greatest impact on their mental health, on par with the impact of their partner.”

·???????? Middle managers have the power ?to solve organizational problems with detail, scale, and connection that top executives (and AI) cannot hope to emulate.?

·???????? Many organizations are?concerned about retaining great employees . According to?McKinsey , workers’ relationships with management account for 86% of workers’ satisfaction at work. In this way, middle managers can serve as a valuable lever for retention.

·???????? One?study ?found that 82% of new leaders have never been trained or coached to lead.?

Ground Up Strategy

Enabling Managers, Employees and Teams to address and resolve day to day frustrations and challenges has several benefits:

·???????? Employees have a voice and are accountable for creating a work environment and culture that meets their needs and supports a rewarding career experience.

·???????? Facilitates Speed of Resolution where issues and frustrations are understood and addressed quickly

·???????? Improves collaboration and teamwork and accountability to one another

·???????? Puts autonomy and control into the hands of the very people who have to work together

·???????? Enables managers to understand and support unique, personal needs and cultivate strengths

·???????? Encourages 1:1 and department interaction and communication that builds working relationships and trust

·???????? Prevents employee always expecting senior leaders to address their challenges and improve their career experience

This strategy requires communication support and a systematic process to be successful, including team activities, exercises and interactive guided conversations.

Systems: People and Processes

To make retention effort and programs successful, organizations need processes to compliment training and tools and ensure that challenges, needs and frustrations that should be addressed and supported have corrective actions taken. This needs to be done in a prompt, effective and efficient manner. Knowing what to do, when to do it, why to do it and who will do it is crucial for the success of retention initiatives.? When done properly this provides “Speed of Resolution” and ensures frustrations don’t fester and build to the tipping point when resignations happen.

Many issues could and should be resolved and agreed to and the manager-employee relationship is at the core of the retention challenge . Yet, they need tools, support and processes to make this work successfully.??

Processes and systems are vital to organizational retention success and employee satisfaction for several reasons, playing a key role in ensuring that career experiences are enhanced, and frustrations are minimized effectively. Here's why processes are crucial:

·???????? Supports Learning People Leadership Skills

·???????? Standardization and Consistency

·???????? Efficiency and Timeliness

·???????? Accountability and Responsibility

·???????? Measurement and Improvement

·???????? Communication and Clarity

·???????? Adaptability and Resilience

To summarize, processes are the backbone of organizational efficiency and employee satisfaction. They ensure that actions are taken consistently, efficiently, and transparently, leading to improved career experiences and minimized frustrations. By investing in developing and refining these processes, organizations can create a supportive and dynamic environment that fosters employee growth and satisfaction.

Goals and Metrics

Organizations need to identify their goals for employee retention and what targets they have for retaining their talent. There are a range of suggested metrics important to monitor and measure employee retention and turnover on an ongoing basis. These are also critical to track progress and ensure that your employee retention strategies and programs are showing improvement and delivering desired results. Without these goals and metrics, it is difficult to identify what areas need further improvement to meet your goals. We have a complete list of employee retention metrics recommended to help measure success of your retention programs.

Core Focus Areas for Employee Retention Activities and Efforts

Focusing on the following elements to strengthen employee retention

Employee Engagement Drivers - Employee engagement is crucial for employee retention and loyalty because it fosters a sense of belonging and commitment to the organization. This includes recognition for effort and achievement, work autonomy, listening and soliciting employee ideas for improvement and more

Employee Experience- Building a rewarding employee experience is pivotal to employee retention as it encompasses all aspects of an employee's journey within the organization, from onboarding to daily interactions. A positive employee experience ensures that employees feel valued, supported, and engaged, which enhances their commitment, morale and reduces turnover rates.

Employee Career Growth and Development- Employee career development plans are essential to retain talent as they show a commitment to employees' long-term growth and success within the organization and help them see a future with the organization.

Employee Work Role, Responsibilities and Expectations- Employee clarity and understanding of their roles and work expectations are important to reduce confusion and increase confidence in job performance. Managers support this understanding with interactive discussions, listening and regular feedback.

Employee Voice and Forum for Change and Improvement- Employee voices and feedback are crucial element to the retention process as they empower employees to feel heard and valued within the organization. When employees can share their opinions and insights, it fosters a sense of ownership and engagement, which enhances their commitment to the company.

Implementing these strategies approaches will enable your organization to move from underdeveloped or beginner programs to more advanced, top-notch solutions that encompass multi-dimensional formal strategies with goals and metrics and a system of integrated initiatives (non-financial programs, customized solutions to meet unique individual needs, support tools, training…)

This concludes our three part “Blueprint for Retention” article series. If you would like to utilize our three worksheet guides that provide exercises to help you determine the impacts on your organization for each section (Why Retention is Important, Fiscal Impacts and Potential ROI, Building Successful Solutions) email us at [email protected] or access these here- Blue Print Workshop Guides .

In conclusion, this three-part series on Retention explored what the “Current State” looks like.? We talked about the real costs and negative impact on healthcare organizations today and finally we reviewed some tangible ways to improve.? Reviewing and following the guidelines outlined here will provide you a blueprint to help your organization make significant improvements in employee retention which offers benefits in several significant ways from productivity, quality of work, customer satisfaction....to reducting costs associated with employee turnover, retention of knowledge and experience and more!

Douglas Brown

President, Manage2Retain

[email protected]

www.manage2retain.com

Phone: 519-500-0251

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