This is what the NT Government said about our clinic on 'How to retain staff'

HR Representative, NT Govt

"I attended the Recruitment and Retention Clinic facilitated by Lisa Halloran. She is a fantastic facilitator who is able to share her knowledge and experience on the subjects with poignancy and impact. Many of the skills I learnt have been useful in my role. I encourage everyone with responsibility for either Recruitment and/or Retention to attend; you won't be disappointed. Great value too!"

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Retention strategies to keep staff sweet....

It is coming up to our fourth year of working with a particularly well know organisation around Australia.

To give a bit of background; we use something called an NPS (Net Promoter Score)  in all our retention studies. This allows us to benchmark what employees are saying about the organisation. For example we will ask the question,

"On a scale of 1-10 how likely are you to recommend a colleague to work here...?'

8-10 = Promoter 

6-7 = Passive 

1-5 = Detractor (-)

Four years ago this particular organisation scored in the minus (around -20) leading us to believe the employees were not happy and therefore not engaged and likely to leave sooner rather than later.

We worked with this organisation to put retention strategies in place and continued to conduct a study each year to really find out what the positives and negatives were. We have seen a steep rise in the NPS resulting in a +33 in 2013. 

It goes to show that taking the time to listen to your staff and find out what they really want can have a huge impact on engagement, productivity, motivation and retention.

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

Retention Strategies for employees can save the day....

Well it could save you staff at least!
















When it comes to your staff retention - shocks can be a disaster! A key member walking out the door could leave you in a tricky situation. What if the resigning member takes their team with them or takes all their knowledge to the opposition? Now, you cannot always prevent this but putting a retention strategy in place could save you and your organisation a great deal of pain in the long run.

Have a look at some strategies that we can help you with.

As my dad once said to me:

FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL

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

Strategies for employee retention

We recently conducted a study in an organisation that seemed to be loosing staff every month.

















Now we have talked in the past about the knock on effects of employees leaving. Cost is a significant one and that comes in many different forms. But one of the most interesting themes that ran through this study was the concern about job security.

Staff turnover in this case was breeding staff turnover. Employees were feeling unsettled watching a new employee walk out the door each month which consequently lead to their own resignation. Now there were factors in between this of course, but there is a lesson here. Employees want to feel secure in their job. The more people they see leave the more insecure they feel.

Many factors affect employee retention. Its always a good idea to have a look at employee retention strategies within your organisation as we know all too well. It can get out of control very quickly!

Employee engagement workshops to motivate your staff

We all want motivated staff. Staff motivation will rise and fall throughout the year depending on many factors including those out of our control.

However what we like to know is how we can influence factors within our control and maintain that employee engagement.

So - You cant offer that promotion to Harry right now but you could keep him challenged and motivated by offering him an opportunity to train, or to work in another area of the organisation.

The main thing is to keep Harry challenged and interested until that promotion is an option or find an alternative. If Harry is an asset then do not let him walk!

There are many ways in which we can keep our employees engaged. Find out more by visiting:

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

Retention workshops could be the cure to that long standing headache!

Lets see here,

So you are a manager and you have no spare time. You simply cannot worry about employee retention when you have so many recruitment interviews to do......
Ringing any bells?!
















Imagine....

• If your best employee decided to stay that little bit longer...
• If your team found a new commitment...
• If you knew how to get the best out of each and every employee...
• If you could spend the right amount of time, saying the right things to the right employees...

...You'll be more effective, you'll achieve more and who knows? You might also get home earlier!

Ease your burdens with a 1 day retention workshops, designed with you in mind and to make your life easier.

Call Lisa or Gemma at Retention Partners 1300 73 83 71

Subscribe to http://retentionpartners.com.au/subscribe.php to receive exclusive benefits & tools.

Employee retention surveys unlock the truth about your organisation!

We have just completed a really interesting study here at Retention Partners. A client of ours was losing staff at a rapid rate and couldn't understand why.

We spoke with just under 100 members of staff over a two week period. Some were current employee's and others had already left.

We found a couple of key issues causing these employees to leave or making them think about leaving.

Now when we embarked on this particular study we had our own views on why this organisation was losing employees. The interesting thing was that even we were surprised at the outcomes! We uncovered a couple of major themes running through the organisation that was having an impact on their retention.

Now, we don't just report back to our clients on major themes. We make recommendations and work with our clients to put these in to practice. The great news with the recent study conducted is that the employees themselves had all the answers! They just needed a voice and to be heard. Not all answers are easy or straight forward but I can tell you that a lot of them are!

It really does emphasis the importance of listening to your employees.

We would be delighted to do the same for your organisation.

www.retentionpartners.com.au

Please call  1300 73 83 71

Employee retention giving you a headache?

Save yourself some neurofen and tackle you retention problem instead.

















Decrease your training costs, recruitment costs, and retain organisational knowledge by engaging your workforce.

Form and commit to a retention strategy. Find out what low retention is costing your organisation and plan to improve it. Use this to focus energy and money on employees motivational levels & see an increase in retention, save money & retain knowledge.

Call Retention Partners 0299541915

Improving employee retention

Is it on your organisations agenda? And if so what is your strategy?

Some clients come to us with a view to increase their retention %. In some cases they may have a goal of increasing their staff retention from 60 -70% within a year.

In this circumstance we would work with them to find the best solution for them. More often then not we complete a study whereby we telephone interview a cross section of the company to gain some honest, undiluted feedback enabling us to pin point troublesome areas. It also allows us to hone in on strong areas whereby an organisation can benefit from fostering these attributes.

Improving retention is not a one size fits all. You must tailor the strategy to your organisation. However there are some pretty good tips and ideas on how to get the right strategy for you if you only ask!

Lisa & Gemma would be delighted to have an informal chat with you regarding your retention strategy on 1300 73 83 71

Improve employee retention & find out why employees join, stay & resign

Gather retention metrics!


An organisation will never effectively improve employee retention until it gets the facts and uses them to make targeted, informed decisions.

‘Facts’ means verifiable knowledge, not intuition or gut feel or ‘common knowledge’.

What facts? Here are the 3 most important retention facts to obtain:

1. Why do employees join your organisation?
2. Why do they stay?
3. Why did they choose not to stay any longer?

By gathering valid data, your retention solutions become obvious and they can be tracked and measured against your starting point, adding further credence to your evidence-based approach.

Want help with your employee retention strategy? Call Retention Partners on

1300 73 83 71

Retain employees with the right manager

Managers have a powerful influence on an employee’s decision to stay or resign. In fact, no other retention solution is as effective as having a retention-capable manager.



Ensure managers identify their high value people (‘who would you lose most sleep over if they resigned?’) and then schedule regular time with them one-on-one. Reward managers for this behaviour through KPIs.



Give your managers more retention skills through our managers retention skills programs at www.retentionpartners.com.au/skills.php.

Employee retention priority and losing sleep...zzzzzzzzz

HIGH VALUE’ MEANS THE EMPLOYEE MAKES A STRONG AND IMMEDIATE CONTRIBUTION TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF IMPORTANT
PRIORITY. GOALS.
THEY MUST BE YOUR FIRST RETENTION PRIORITY!


Will you lose sleep if they go? Will the share price be affected? Will there be loss/delay in sales? Will the manager be distracted from his/her work during the vacancy? Are these skills/personal attributes valuable to your competitors?

Some employees are more important than others. Who can you NOT afford to lose? Focus retention effort there first.

Do you know who those high value people are?


 Ask us about our Risk/Value Matrix that can identify high risk/high value employees in an entire organisation overnight.

Subscribe to Retention Partners to access tools that could help you identify these people.

Tips on your organisations Retention Plan

Here at Retention Partners we have decided to share our top 52 retention tips with you! Over the next couple of months we will take you through how to plan your retention strategy, disengagement events, promotion proxies and much, much more.

And just to get started here is our first tip;



PLAN A RETENTION STRATEGY

How much does attrition cost you? Who’s leaving? Who can’t you afford to lose? Why do they join, stay and resign? What’s the action plan? How much will it cost to retain them? These fundamental questions must be addressed, to give direction, benchmarks and priorities to your retention effort.

Develop your employee retention strategy first.

For a chat with Lisa or Gemma on how we can help you please call 1300 73 83 71 

or visit our website www.retentionpartners.com.au

Promotion proxies & employee development

One reason why some organisations lose staff is because there are not enough promotions available for upcoming high performers. So what can you do to encourage this group to stay that will satisfy their need for career progression and skill development?

What successful 'promotion proxy' initiatives has your organisation done?

Subscribe to Retention Partners for up access to your development strategy 

No budget for employee retention?

As you can imagine, we’ve heard this a few trillion times before. Our training budget is too small, we can’t afford executive coaches or team away days, we’re too busy, and more. But ask yourself … can you afford not to? As someone who has been burnt out before – I can tell you, it doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t suddenly wake up one morning and think ‘aw, gee, from yesterday to today I’m completely burnt out and exhausted and unable to go on another day’. It happens gradually and it can be stopped dead in its tracks by having a manager and an organisation that decides to truly care and do something about it. And it starts right at the top with your most senior executives caring about the team, caring about retention and listening.

Everyone is different – we all have different motivators for why we work. And in our experience…news flash…money is not the main reason most of us come to work. This is just so incredibly important– money is not the main reason most of us work. So retention strategies are not the same as budget planning. You need to find out why your people come to work, and do more of that. So for example, if your team members like to be recognised – introduce a recognition scheme that works for your culture. If you have team members who like to be intellectually challenged – offer time off to study. If your team likes socializing together … introduce pizza Friday. Its not brain surgery but it is a top priority and it will use some budget. But not as much budget as a recruiter would invoice you for if you had to replace someone. What do recruiters charge now … up to 21% annual package in some instances. What do a few pizzas cost?

But there is also a way of enhancing employment retention which doesn’t cost money. It’s called Communication and is a subject close to my heart. Most people are happy to be busy if they get why they’re busy and they’re learning. So share with them your business strategy, share with them more about what other teams are doing, talk about culture and your employer brand, take them offsite for drinks and presentations quarterly. Make it personal, because when it comes to quitting, it often is.

Subscribe to Retention Partners for up access to retention tips!

Australia’s got talent & retaining employees

I confess to having watched half an episode of Australia’s Got Talent. My my, its an eye opener. I wonder if there is a use for my shower voice after all. But it got me thinking that in business, there are people like the guy in the dodgy wig and way-too-tight pants singing ‘Chunky chick’. And while the judges booted him off, the crowd were pretty excited about him and his duet partner, the chunky chick. Maybe it isn’t just about what the person brings, but its also about the environment around them, and what the person becomes with the support and guidance of the right team.

Lets imagine that this dodgy wig guy is full of passion and energy in his workplace. He is the ideas guy – he comes up with innovations and gets the team revved up. His manager has white hair by now, or perhaps it’s all been pulled out, but maybe this guy is the one who has come up with an idea for a new ad campaign, or new technology for dispensing water in a vending machine, or for digging under the opera house and putting in a car park. Who knows. But that car park is something amazing, if you ask me.

The point is that people come to work with something to offer. Do we do as the judges did and effectively wrap a straight jacket around dodgy wig guy and send him backstage to sort the mail. Or do we look at him differently and offer him a nurturing environment to share his creative edge, his gutsy approach to life, his passion for life and his gravitas. Do we only hire people who we feel have some sort of generic talent, or do we hire people who have the right talent for what we’re looking for, who we can encourage to bring out their best. As Terry Kabachnick author of I quit but forgot to tell you says, ‘A business doesn’t make people successful, people make a business successful.’

So you start with a guy who is working somewhere that appreciates him and it doesn’t take a big leap to conclude that he will probably stay longer, work harder and be happier in a culture where he feels he is making a real impact and a difference and that his manager and organisation care whether he comes in to work each day.

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 

HR can have a voice using retention strategies

So, for a very, very long time, we’ve heard the HR complaint ‘why can’t I have a seat at the table?’

Why are corporate decisions made without input from HR?

Why isn’t HR taken as seriously as finance or sales?

Finance and sales (and production and distribution and customer service…) have in common that HR doesn’t have: a shared language made up of $ and % signs.

I can prove how many quality products we shipped last month, or how many sales people exceeded their target by how much or how much interest we made on our cash at hand. I can make a direct link from each of those things to how profitable we are.

Can you do that in HR? The answer is - yes you can with retention strategies!

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