Did your company reduce staff during our recent recession? Are your employees feeling a little overworked right now? What will happen when job opportunities start opening up around the Metroplex?
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Total nonfarm employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,979,600 in July 2012, up 60,300 over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today (8/24/12). |
Who filled these extra 60,300 jobs? I’m sure many jobs were filled by people who were unemployed but some were probably filled by people who were employed elsewhere. Are recruiters starting to contact your employees, trying to entice them to leave for a new opportunity? Estimates of people who plan to leave their jobs are predicted to be from 20 to 50%.
Some of your employees may be asking “should I stay or should I go?” as our economy slowly improves and jobs are advertised. I’m starting to observe employees changing their thinking from “I’m just happy I have a job” to “I’m getting tired of all the extra work.” If you are starting to experience an increase in turnover, it may become contagious with employees thinking “key people are leaving, why am I still here?”
It may be time to focus on retention. Here are a few tips to stimulate your thoughts:
- Create a Retention Action Plan: According to a 2008 SHRM study, total costs of employee replacement, including training and loss of productivity, can range from 90% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary. Take the time to educate all managers on identifying the risk factors of losing key employees and get their commitment to take action to improve retention.
- Analyze Survey Data: If you conduct regular employee engagement or culture climate surveys, closely examine responses related to retention and analyze for issues that might lead to increased turnover. Follow up your surveys with employee focus groups to gain a deeper understanding of the issues.
- Honest Economic Communication: Employees need to become hopeful for the future by hearing from top leaders honest projections of how the company is doing and whether and when there will be an end to layoffs and belt-tightening. In absence of communication, employees will just fear the worst.
Focusing on retention especially for your top performers will result in recruiters hearing “no thank you, I’m happy and will be staying in my current job!” To discuss your training plans, contact us at info@ManagementSkillsInc.com or call 972 881-5282.