Exit interview workshops can help make your exit interviews meaningful!

Don't let exit interviews become just another tick off the list!

Exit interviews provide extremely valuable information. IF exit interviews are conducted in the correct way you could increase employee productivity dramatically.

It all comes down to making the ex-employee feel comfortable enough to be open and honest along with asking the right questions. Then, of course, comes the reporting. Assuming all these are done correctly you now have golden insight in to what is great and not great about working for your organisation.

As we say 'knowledge is power'!

http://retentionpartners.com.au/workshops.php

Employee motivation - take an interest!

Lets face it - employee engagement largely depends on an employees relationship with their manager.

Here are just a handful of the biggest complaints we hear from dis-engaged employees

• My manager doesn't listen to me
• My manager doesn't take an interest in me
• My manager doesn't respect me
• My manager doesn't back me up 
• My manager doesn't acknowledge or recognise my efforts & often takes credit for my work

These are all 'fixable' problems. Find out what your staff want so that you can give it to them & increase employee motivation.

For more help with employee motivation visit our website www.retentionpartners.com.au

Employee motivation is the key to success.

Oh Monday morning...... we all hate Monday mornings don't we?

I over heard this said on the train at the beginning of the week from one friend to another. The other friend shot back with "actually I look forward to going in to the office on a Monday because...."

and then she reeled off how her organisation puts on a breakfast every Monday morning for all the staff to enjoy a coffee and something to eat while they catch up after the weekend.

Great! What a positive way to start the week I thought. Some bright spark had come up with a way to boost employee motivation on the most notoriously talked about day of the week.

Find out what your organisation needs to boost employee motivation. After all Employee motivation is the key to success......

We would be delighted to have an informal chat on how we can help improve your employee motivation. Please call Lisa or Gemma on 1300 73 83 71

When should I conduct an exit interview?

WAIT UNTIL THEY LEAVE


















In most organisations, exit interviews are conducted sometime between resignation and the final day at work.

The preferred time to conduct an exit interview is AFTER the employee has left, ideally within 3 months.

Departed employees have more perspective and are more likely to provide a balanced response.

However, if the delay is too long post-employment, too many details will be forgotten and the circumstances that the employee reflects upon may no longer exist either.

Subscribe to Retention Partners for more tips on exit interviews!

How to maintain employee motivation?

Find out what your employees want!

In our engagement interviews, we ask the question 'What’s great about working here?'  

Find out what you do well from the only people capable of telling you – your employees. Perhaps they’ll talk highly of your training programs, the quality of support from managers, the diversity of clients, the routine of each day… These strengths are what you must protect! 

For fast solutions from surveys, take a look at www.retentionpartners.com.au/metrics.php.

Make your exit interview honest, representative & useful!

Honest – your employees will talk more openly to an anonymous third party. Make the process as confidential as possible.



Representative – ensure your survey is a cross-section of your sample. For example, don’t send out an electronic survey for anyone to complete – your results won’t be representative (unless you have 100% response rate and that’s a waste of time and money!)



Useful – only ask questions where you can point to the strategy or tactic that the responses will help alter. 63% of respondents agree that ‘Our culture is good/very good’? What tactic or strategy will that influence! Ask questions to fuel the changes you have to make. See the following tips for ideas.

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Gather critical info through an employee survey

GATHER DATA FROM HIGH VALUE EMPLOYEES FIRST, AND THE REMAINDER IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT


















Your retention strategy would have revealed who your high value employees are. Survey them first – why did they join, why are they still here, how long do they want to stay, what will make them resign? Consider outsourcing this survey to gain truthful and anonymous responses.

For survey assistance and ideas, see www.retentionpartners.com.au/metrics.php

Mass-customisation & employee engagement

We mass-customise anything now – you can download the song, not the whole album, you can specify exactly what car options you want on your brand new Range Rover..... or even your Skoda!


 Same at work – what kind of experience do you want at work? Harry and Jessica who sit next to each other are very different dispite the obvious. Harry wants to reach the senior management level one day. The thought of that terrifies Jessica who wants simply to do her job well and enjoy the company of her colleagues.

It might seem simple, and well, it is really. They know what they want. Do you?

And if you got what you wanted, wouldn’t you be more inclined to stay? Managers must have retention conversations and build tailored engagement plans.

We would be delighted to speak to you about your engagement strategy. Lisa or Gemma will answer your call on 1300 73 83 71

Alternatively you can subscribe to Retention Partners and receive up and coming webinars, retention tips and access to our cost calculator.

Self-Inflicted injuries & employee turnover

So once you have details about which resignations were influenced by the organisation, you can go about addressing the ‘push factors’ like manager practices (which is the main one!).
If you are doing annual studies on your current employees, you should see a change in the push factors as you address issues.
If you know why people are leaving, fix it! Otherwise your resignations are self inflected injuries!
How have you addressed issues that were uncovered from exit interviews? What are your organisation’s main “push” factors?

Call Retention Partners for an informal chat on how we can help you discover your organisations 'push factors' on 1300 73 83 71

Whats great? Increase employee motivation

When doing a study of your current employees, the question “What’s great about working here?” uncovers the things that make them stay with your organisation. One of the most common responses to this question in all organisations is “The people I work with”. Once you know these positives, you can use them in your recruitment messages AND give the staff more of these ‘positives’ to increase retention.

Do you know what your employees think is great about working for your organisation? What are they? How do you use this data to help your recruitment and employee motivation strategies?

Capturing key data in an exit interview

This week’s subscriber tip looked at 3 things that are vital to capturing great data and one of them was honesty.

One of our core services is conducting exit interviews on behalf of our clients. Why do organisations get us to do this? Because no one likes to burn bridges and when employees resign, they are prepared to be more honest with us. 

We have seen over and over again data collected inhouse doesn't relay the whole story. 

One way of knowing that your exit data isn’t as honest as it could be is there will be a high proportion of employees that say they are leaving because they had a better job/offer. But you need to find out what made them LOOK for another offer. That’s where the real truth lies!

How do you ensure your exit interview responses are honest? How do you ensure confidentiality? We’re looking forward to hearing about your exit interview processes!

Gather critical information in an employee survey

GATHER DATA FROM HIGH VALUE EMPLOYEES FIRST, AND THE REMAINDER IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT

Your retention strategy would have revealed who your high value employees are. Survey them first – why did they join, why are they still here, how long do they want to stay, what will make them resign?


Consider outsourcing this survey to gain truthful and anonymous responses.

For survey assistance and ideas, see www.retentionpartners.com.au/metrics.php

Start at the beginning with an employee survey

Of course, you try to ensure your recruitment processes are best practice but what if they're not? How would you know?

We once worked with a client that advertised jobs for this role as an "outdoor job" and they couldn't work out why so many of their new recruits were leaving after 3 - 6 months. When we spoke to the new recruits it became obvious. They were being attracted by the outdoor component of the job but the reality was that half the role was working inside doing repetitive tasks.

Once they made changes to the advertisement to make it more accurately reflect the job, tenure increased because the organisation began attracting candidates that were prepared to do both parts of the job!

It is an important part of the recruitment process to get feedback from new recruits about:

1. How accurate was the recruitment advertisement in its portrayal of life on the job?
2. Did the recruitment process make you feel your application was valued by the company?
3. What additional communication would you have liked?
4. What could be improved about the interview process?
5. What other improvements could be made to the recruitment process?

Does your organisation have a process for capturing feedback about your recruitment process? An employee survey? Have you ever been asked about your experience when you have started working with an organisation?  We're looking forward to hearing your stories!

Don't bank on it with employee retention!

So, I was training in Bangkok earlier this year and we had attendees from Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Thailand in the room. It was a great mix!

But a funny thing happened that showed me the differences that we sometimes don’t acknowledge exist.

We were working through the usual company policies and practices that might (inadvertently) encourage employee to resign.

For example, some organisations require an employee to inform their supervisor if they want to put in for an internal promotion. However, sometimes employees don’t want their boss to know they’re dissatisfied, and it’s easier to resign than to keep working for your boss if you don’t win that promotion.

One of the training participants representing an Islamic bank thought for a bit then he said ‘Well, I think the policy we have that our employees can’t marry each other, maybe that’s not helping recruitment and retention’.

You think?!

That policy may no doubt be right for a conservative business in a conservative country, but they’ll have to accept higher turnover and maybe a different calibre of candidate in the first place.

Have you become aware of policies or practices inside your business that (inadvertently) might make employees resign?

Subscribe to Retention Partners for up and coming webinars and access to retention tips.

Mud cake and employee turnover rate!

Look, don’t get me wrong, some turnover is a healthy thing and has to be expected. In fact when unemployment is at an all time low, you’ve got to expect it. The problem is that when someone leaves they walk out the door with knowledge. Knowledge that they have gained while working at your business, so essentially you’ve paid for it, and now it’s walking out the door. In fact, you’ve thrown a farewell party for it, eaten a slice of farewell mud cake for it, and probably contributed to a farewell present for it. And you can never get it back. We all know that it costs between 2 and 50 times the annual salary to replace someone, depending how senior they are.

Some people say we are all created equal. But if that person you’ve just farewelled is a superstar for your business, you probably don’t believe it. When it comes to business we are constantly told that there are some truly shining stars out there. Stars that the business relies on to thrive. Stars that you cannot imagine losing, that would set your business back years if they left. But we must be realistic. Everyone moves jobs. Everyone. You need to expect it. For some it takes months, for some it comes after long service leave, but it will happen. So don’t wait until its too late. Start getting that knowledge out of the head of your super stars well before things are on the cards. Not only will it secure your business from farewelling years of knowledge, but it will also give other people the chance to step up and contribute in a new area – which … guess what … might make them stay longer and perform stronger too. What do they call that. Ah yes, win win.

Call us on 1300 73 83 71 for help with your employee turnover rate 

Sickening problems with employee turnover

So in Melbourne the other day, I talked with an organisation who had a sickening problem.

They had a core of really great staff. And then they had a small cohort of employees who gamed the system. They knew how much sick leave was unassessable, when the union would get involved, at what stage doctors certificates were required, who the ‘good’ doctors were, when the first written warning would come etc, etc.

That business had some employees with up to 250 sick days a year.

And it was the ones who turned up every day who bore a larger burden, and it’s hard to explain to a hard worker why their reward is more work.

That organisation is staring in the face of a domino effect: ‘Why should I show up when he/she doesn’t have to?’

Have you faced difficulty getting on top of absenteeism? How did you cope? Or were prevailing circumstances, history and accepted practice too hard to overcome?

What if your employee turnover consisted of loosing your key employees as a result of retaining the plodders?

Wouldn't you like to pinpoint problem areas in your organisation? 

Please call us on 1300 73 83 to have an informal chat on how we can help you locate the problem areas costing you money.

What Lettuce and employee engagement have in common!

So, years ago someone explained to me the principles of sales.

‘Lisa’, they said, ‘imagine that you’re selling lettuce. There’s going to be a third of the market that LOVES lettuce and they’ll find you and buy your lettuce and keep coming back for more’.

Excellent!

‘And there’ll be a third of the market, that you’ll have to go and find and persuade of the benefits of lettuce and then they’ll agree and buy your lettuce’.

All right!

‘Then there’ll be the third of the market that doesn’t like lettuce, will never like lettuce, won’t buy your lettuce no matter how cheap or delicious it is’.

Your workforce is kinda similar. There’s a big group who come back day after day, saying ‘yes, I like what this company offers’.

There’s another group you have to work on: they’ve already bought your lettuce (read: ‘accepted the job offer’) but need more reasons to keep eating it.

And there’s a group of your employees right now who have decided that they don’t like your lettuce anymore, no matter what you say or do to persuade them.

So where do you focus your efforts on? The happiest group? The disgruntled group?

We would say, forget the really disgruntled group. Your best efforts are spent on moving the reluctant lettuce-eaters to be more enthusiastic first, then focus on keeping the happy ones happy. That way, you’re growing a bigger core of employees who are more likely to stay and to perform. THEN you can spend time figuring out what turned off so many employees, or why potential employees don’t apply to you in the first place.

I know employee engagement is trickier than selling lettuce, but think about segmenting your workforce in those three groups – it might help you re-focus your efforts.

One client’s employee engagement survey showed that 24% of employees self-declared that they were actively disengaged!

Let us help you with your engagement strategy and help protect your revenue!

For more information on employee engagement please call us on 1300738371

Word of mouth counts as does an employee survey

So, Gemma was at a restaurant with her husband Brent the other day.

They’d been there a few times before. It’s a bit fancy, for a special night out.

But this time, there weren’t any tablecloths. And the service was a bit sloppy. And why were other diners there in joggers and shorts? We’re talking a $200 meal here!
What’s the point of this story? Gemma’s not planning on going there again. PLUS, she told me about it and now I’m never going to go there. And I’m going to mention that to any friend who happens to say they’re planning on dinner there. (come on, this isn’t Eatability!)

There’s potentially a thousand bucks in revenue that restaurant isn’t going to see over the next couple of years.

Word of mouth matters. People believe personal stories from people they know more than they do a paid ad. In employee engagement-land, we use Net Promoter Score (NPS) for our clients in their employee survey – ‘how likely are you to recommend your organisation to a colleague thinking of working there?’

A really bad NPS indicates that your employees are giving you a bad review. And if you tell me that you have a rotten time at your job, I’m not going to apply.

The really bad news for employers with bad NPS results is that you don’t even know how many high calibre candidates decide not apply to you, just like the restaurant can’t count the revenue it isn’t making.

And you know, don’t you, which organisations in your sector you wouldn’t touch with a barge pole? Word gets around.

What do you think your employees and former employees are saying about your organisation? Are they champions or detractors?

Subscribe to Retention Partners for Webinars and access to retention tips!

Oh the humanity!! Hot desk and employee survey

                                                                                                                                                             
So, it’s sometimes necessary to re-organise our office space into efficient layouts, especially when rents are high. How to make our floorplan accommodate all our people?

One idea that seems to be popular in some organisations is hot-desking.

Employees can store paperwork and computers at a central storage area at the office, but the desk spaces are communal – each day you’ll probably be working somewhere else, alongside someone else.

Kind of like that message on airlines: ‘Even though you may fly regularly, each time you board a plane, you’ll probably be sitting in a different seat’.

And that’s okay for the odd weekly or monthly flight to another city.

But if you were flying every day, and everyone else on the plane was flying with you to the same destination every day, wouldn’t you want to figure out who likes to sit where, who doesn’t like the window seat, who needs to chat with whom?

It’s not only a basic human need, it’s a basic sentient need: most species form a habitat comprised of shelter, routine and safety. Only humans put a premium on doing what’s cost-efficient to discourage people from forming and building interpersonal connections at work.

Do you use hot-desking? Have you seen it work?

For access to our Webinars you can Subscribe to Retention Partners

An exit interview with the chef!

So, ever had the restaurant experience from hell? Lousy service, poorly cooked food?

Ever had a quiet word to the restaurant about it later?

Or do you just not go back, and tell all your buddies to avoid the place?

If you're the chef or restaurant owner, that feedback can be the difference between a full house or empty seats.

How do you know what to fix if you're never told?

And sure, there are nice way and not nice ways of saying what’s irked you.

But maybe next time, ring the restaurant the next day and tell them. If they're any good, they'll listen. And if they're not, you've done your bit.

Same with being at work: can you find a way to say to your manager what you'd like more or less of? What you'd like him/her to stop doing/start doing to support you at work? Too many people leave the business because of something – often quite doable – that the manager can influence, if only they knew!

An exit interview on leaving the restaurant might be handy!

At Retention Partners we can do exit interviews to get the information you need.

Subscribe to Retention Partners for access to up and coming Webinars.