| How often do we hear that Human Resources is | | | | within the company |
| in charge of the organization's retention | | | | |
| mission? More often than not, the job of | | | | 3. Survey people who have left the |
| thinking about retention and its impact is a | | | | organization in order to find out why they |
| key role of the company's human resources | | | | left (and where they landed!) |
| professional and unfortunately, unless there | | | | |
| is a crisis, that role falls to the bottom of | | | | 4. Do some research on key competitors or |
| a very lengthy list. As we continue to brace | | | | others in your industry. Are your retention |
| ourselves against the labor shortage, HR is | | | | numbers in line with theirs? |
| finding that it needs to move its thinking | | | | |
| about retention to the top of the list. How | | | | 5. Finally, ask yourself this key question |
| should Human Resources go about beginning the | | | | "why would I want to stay here?" The answer |
| conversation around retention? Most HR | | | | to that question should help you formulate |
| professionals will agree that HR can't do it | | | | your Human Resources Retention Mission!Once |
| alone. It requires the entire organization to | | | | you have your baseline information, it is |
| (1) admit there is a problem and (2) want to | | | | time to start working within your |
| do something about it. In the examination of | | | | organization to figure out what to do next. |
| an organizations retention problem, the first | | | | Having the support of the top leadership will |
| task must be an analysis of current retention | | | | be imperative and getting them involved in |
| statistics. The HR leader must examine why | | | | the conversation up-front is critical. Your |
| people are leaving in the first place. Good | | | | new found insight is meaningless if you don't |
| questions to ask include: | | | | have the support and involvement from the top |
| | | | right from get-go. If you determine that a |
| | | | key manager is responsible for the majority |
| | | | of the turnover, there are going to be some |
| 1. Do we have department specific attrition | | | | difficult conversations and you'll need |
| that might be caused by a poor manager? | | | | support in order to have them. In addition, |
| | | | you'll need the support of senior leadership |
| 2. Is the work load unreasonable? | | | | if major changes in structure, job roles, |
| | | | compensation, or benefits are necessary. |
| 3. Is our salary structure competitive? | | | | |
| | | | One way to head off problems before they have |
| 4. Could our current interview process be | | | | a chance to fester is to implement a 360 |
| improved? | | | | feedback system. That should help indicate |
| | | | problems early on in a manager's tenure. In |
| 5. Do we have room for professional growth | | | | addition, ongoing dialog with current |
| within our organization?Getting a handle on | | | | employees and managers is critical in |
| "the current state" is always the first step | | | | determining your Human Resources Retention |
| in creating the "desired state". In examining | | | | Mission. |
| the five questions above, a recommend | | | | |
| approach includes: | | | | They key to the retention mission is |
| | | | information. Without it, you are going to be |
| | | | stuck. Information is the key to making the |
| | | | case for any type of organizational change. |
| 1. Get a baseline in terms of your current | | | | Armed with information, Human Resources can |
| attrition rate | | | | now make their case for a retention mission. |
| | | | HR becomes the catalyst for change. That |
| 2. Interview key managers about attrition | | | | change goes a long way in making HR a |
| within their department and other departments | | | | strategic business partner. |