Employee retention, especially of your best, most desirable employees, is a key challenge in organizations today.

Are you interested in discovering your employees most serious complaints? Knowing what makes employees unhappy is half the battle when you think about employee work satisfaction, morale, positive motivation, and retention. Listen to employees and provide opportunities for them to communicate with company managers. If employees feel safe, they will tell you whats on their minds. Your work culture must foster trust for successful two-way communication. HR Solutions, Inc., a Chicago-based management consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, analyzed recurring themes in employee surveys and compiled the following top ten list. These are the items employees consistently complain about on surveys and in interviews. How many are true in your workplace? Higher salaries: pay is the number one area in which employees seek change. You can foster a work environment in which employees feel comfortable asking for a raise. Internal pay equity: employees are concerned particularly with pay compression, the differential in pay between new and longer term employees. In organizations, with the average annual pay increase for employees around 4%, employees perceive that newcomers are better paid and, often, they are. Benefits programs, particularly health and dental insurance, retirement, and Paid Time Off / vacation days: specifically, many employees feel that their health insurance costs too much, especially prescription drug programs, when employers pass part of their rising costs to employees. Over-management: Employees often defined by interviewees as: Too many chiefs, not enough Indians. Workplaces that foster employee empowerment, employee enablement, and broader spans of control by managers, will see fewer complaints. A popular word, micromanaging, expresses this sentiment, too. Pay increase guidelines for merit: Employees believe the compensation system should place greater emphasis on merit and contribution. Employees find pay systems in which all employees receive the same pay increase annually, demoralizing. Such pay systems hit the motivation and commitment of your best employees hardest as they may begin asking whats in this for me? As you adopt a merit pay system, one component is education so that employees know what behaviors and contributions merit additional compensation. Employees who did not must be informed by their manager about how their performance needs to change to merit a larger pay increase. Human Resources department response to employees: The Human Resource department needs to be more responsive to employee questions and concerns. In many companies, the HR department is perceived as the policy making, policing arm of management. In fact, in forward thinking HR departments, responsiveness to employee needs is one of the cornerstones. Favoritism: Employees want the perception that each employee is treated equivalently with other employees. If there are policies, behavioral guidelines, methods for requesting time off, valued assignments, opportunities for development, frequent communication, and just about any other work related decisions you can think of, employees want fair treatment. Communication and availability: Lets face it. Employees want face-to-face communication time with both their supervisors and executive management. This communication helps them feel recognized and important. And, yes, your time is full because you have a job, too. But, a managers main job is to support the success of all his or her reporting employees. Thats how the manager magnifies their own success. Workloads are too heavy: Departments are understaffed and employees feel as if their workloads are too heavy and their time is spread too thinly. I see this complaint becoming worse as layoffs; the economy; your ability to find educated, skilled, experienced staff; and your business demands grow. To combat this, each company should help employees participate in continuous improvement activities. Facility cleanliness: Employees want a clean, organized work environment in which they have the necessary equipment to perform well.

The job satisfaction study included over 2.2 million respondents with 2,100 organizations representing various industries, all surveyed by HR Solutions, Inc.

Top Ten Employee Complaints

By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide

http://humanresources.about.com/od/retention/a/emplo_complaint.htm

Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs? Employee retention matters. Organizational issues such as training time and investment; lost knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee is costly. Various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organization up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. I have seen estimates of double the annual salary and more. Employee retention is critically important for a second societal reason, too. Over the next few years while Baby Boomers (age 40 to 58) retire, the upcoming Generation X population numbers 44 million people (ages 25-34), compared to 76 million Baby Boomers available for work. Simply stated: there are a lot fewer people available to work. Employee retention is one of the primary measures of the health of your organization. If you are losing critical staff members, you can safely bet that other people in their departments are looking as well. Exit interviews with departing employees provide valuable information you can use to retain remaining staff. Heed their results. Youll never have a more significant source of data about the health of your organization. Ive provided retention tips in earlier articles, but will add ten more retention tips to your arsenal with these top ten ways to retain a great employee. Management thinkers from Ferdinand Fournies ( Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do and What to Do About It) to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (First Break All the Rules agree that a satisfied employee knows clearly what is expected from him every day at work. Changing expectations keep people on edge and create unhealthy stress. They rob the employee of internal security and make the employee feel unsuccessful. Im not advocating unchanging jobs just the need for a specific framework within which people clearly know what is expected from them.

The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention.People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well-liked or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee complaints center on these areas. --lack of clarity about expectations, --lack of clarity about earning potential, --lack of feedback about performance, --failure to hold scheduled meetings, and --failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is another key factor in employee retention. Does your organization solicit ideas and provide an environment in which people are comfortable providing feedback? If so, employees offer ideas, feel free to criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their tongues or find themselves constantly "in trouble" - until they leave.

Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees seek in your workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work areas outside of his specific job description. How many people could contribute far more than they currently do? You just need to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it. As an example, in a small company, a manager pursued a new marketing plan and logo with the help of external consultants. An internal sales rep, with seven years of ad agency and logo development experience, repeatedly offered to help. His offer was ignored and he cited this as one reason why he quit his job. In fact, the recognition that the company didn't want to take advantage of his knowledge and capabilities helped precipitate his job search.

Here are six additional employee retention tips. Here are the first four tips and a discussionabout why retention is critically important. The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in employee retention. In one company, a new sales rep was given the most potentially successful, commission-producing accounts. Current staff viewed these decisions as taking food off their tables. You can bet a number of them are looking for their next opportunity. In another instance, a staff person, just a year or two out of college, was given $20,000 in raises over a six month time period. Information of this type never stays secret in companies so you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the morale of several other employees will be affected. For example, you have a staff person who views her role as important and she brings ten years of experience, an M.B.A. and a great contribution record to the table. When she finds she is making less money than this employee, she is likely to look for a new job. Minimally, her morale and motivation will take a big hit. Did the staff person deserve the raises? Yes. But, recognize that there will be impact on others.

When an employee is failing at work, I ask the W. Edwards Deming question, What about the work system is causing the person to fail? Most frequently, if the employee knows what they are supposed to do, I find the answer is time, tools, training, temperament or talent. The easiest to solve, and the ones most affecting employee retention, are tools, time and training. The employee must have the tools, time and training necessary to do their job well or they will move to an employer who provides them.

Your best employees, those employees you want to retain, seek frequent opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill. Without the opportunity to try new opportunities, sit on challenging committees, attend seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they will stagnate. A careeroriented, valued employee must experience growth opportunities within your organization.

A common place complaint or lament I hear during an exit interview is that the employee never felt senior managers knew he existed. By senior managers I refer to the president of a small company or a department or division head in a larger company. Take time to meet with new employees to learn about their talents, abilities and skills. Meet with each employee periodically. You'll have more useful information and keep your fingers on the pulse of your organization. It's a critical tool to help employees feel welcomed, acknowledged and loyal.

No matter the circumstances, never, never, ever threaten an employee's job or income. Even if you know layoffs loom if you fail to meet production or sales goals, it is a mistake to foreshadow this information with employees. It makes them nervous; no matter how you phrase the information; no matter how you explain the information, even if you're absolutely correct, your best staff members will update their resumes. I'm not advocating keeping solid information away from people, however, think before you say anything that makes people feel they need to search for another job.

I place this final tip on every retention list I develop because it is so key and critical to retention success. Your staff members must feel rewarded, recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts make the thank you even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to accomplishments and achievement, help retain staff. Commissions and bonuses that are easily calculated on a daily basis, and easily understood, raise motivation and help retain staff. Annually, I receive emails from staff members that provide information about raises nationally. You can bet that work is about the money and almost every individual wants more.

Take a look at your organization Are you doing your best to retain your top talent? Employ these ten factors in your organization to retain your desired employees and attract the best talent, too.

Top Ten Ways to Retain Your Great Employees

Why Retention? Four Tips for Employee Retention
By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide

http://humanresources.about.com/od/retention/a/more_retention.htm http://humanresources.about.com/od/retention/a/more_retention_2.htm

Is it Time to Tune-Up Your Retention Strategy?

Maybe you haven't yet given much thought to a long-term employee retention strategy. Or maybe your organization already has a retention program in place, but you're ready to take it to the next level with a few innovative new ideas. No matter where you are with your employee retention program, your organization probably still has some room for improvement. Here are a few novel techniques that may be able to help you retain your most valuable employees.

Better Retention Starts With Better Recruitment Many employers tend to focus retention efforts on their long-term employees, but the most effective programs are those that emphasize the benefits of long-term employment from the employee's first day on the job. Query prospective candidates about their long-term plans and ask how this job figures into them. Get a clearer handle on organizational fit by allowing current employees to interview prospective hires, and vice versa. Develop a short-term, performance-based bonus and compensation system that rewards continued employment at three months, six months, a year, and so on.

Think Like an Entrepreneur. Most established hospitality industry firms are light-years away from scrappy Silicon Valley tech startups in their organizational cultures -- and that might be part of the problem. While some of their zanier strategies may not work in the hospitality industry, you can infuse your workplace with the same zestful spirit of creativity. Allow your employees a couple of hours each week to dedicate to their own workrelated interests, like researching new entrees or developing new house cocktails. A sense of playful innovation in the workplace can really boost employee retention rates.

Choose the Right Rewards.

Retention reward programs aren't exactly a new idea, but designing a reward program around prizes your employees pick is an innovative twist on this long-used technique. Remember, reward systems don't really work if employees don't really care about the prizes. Poll your employees to find out what they really want. Some unconventional suggestions include things like extra time off, choosing one's own shift or section, or being excused from tedious closing or opening duties for a day, a week, or a month.

Cultivate a Sense of Ownership in Your Employees. One of the best ways to convince your top employees to stick around is to convince them to feel invested in the business's performance. Some hospitality industry employers take this idea literally, establishing employee ownership programs that reward longevity with profit-sharing bonuses or shares in the company. For even more retention-boosting impact, you can stagger the vesting of the profitsharing program over a period of five, ten, or more years.

Have More Fun! Although most employees cite compensation as the most important criterion they consider when choosing to leave a position, some experts feel that the real issue is often more complex. According to John Putzier, personnel expert and author of Get Weird: 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work, the most important motivation to stay with a company is being able to have fun on the job. Some suggested ideas include offbeat performance competitions (such as who can sell the most orders of a particular appetizer or dessert in a week) or spontaneously handing out gift certificates or other surprise rewards when a team member is "caught in the act" of providing excellent service.

The ultimate goal is to create an organizational culture that is conducive to retention in every aspect. Make it your job to remain focused on enhancing the features of your workplace that are likely to convince employees to stay, and eliminating those that might drive them away. Keep an open mind and stay s unique needs. A comprehensive strategy that blends together multiple employee retention techniques is likely to be most effective. Feel free to combine or modify one or more strategies, and keep experimenting until you find a system that works for you. http://www.hcareers.com/us/resourcecenter/tabid/306/articleid/329/default.aspx

Employee Retention Talent Management

Talent is the critical success factor to any organization. Talent pool management is the most challenging area to any organization. The challenge of finding, attracting, developing and retaining the right talent is taking up a major part of management and once the right talent is found the next demanding job is to retain that talent. Retaining employees involves understanding the intrinsic motivators of them which many organizations unable to identify. In this context organizations need to dig novel approaches to retain the most effective manpower. Looking carefully into many organizations - retention strategies are very competitive.

http://www.themanager.org/Knowledgebase/HR_s/Retention_001.htm
Employer Attitude - The One of the foundation stones of companies which attract, Foundation of Employee retain and motivate high performing employees is a positive Retention and valuing attitude toward them. pdf

http://www.themanager.org/Knowledgebase/HR_s/Retention_006.htm

Keeping a cut above the rest - Employee retention strategies

Rather than fight a futile war for talent, leaders should build talent by looking within their organisations for the critical skills, knowledge and attributes required to execute their company's most important roles. pdf

http://www.themanager.org/Knowledgebase/HR_s/Retention_007.htm

Managing Employee Research indicates that the total cost of employee turnover is Retention as a Strategy about 150% of an employees salary. Because of this high cost for Increasing of turnover, the organization that is the focus of this article Organizational sought to understand their employees turnover intentions and Competitiveness the reasons for the potential turnover. pdf

http://www.themanager.org/Knowledgebase/HR_s/Retention_009.htm
Retaining Talent: A Benchmarking Study Executive Summary of a study. This study examines the challenges that organizations face with employee retention in an increasingly competitive labor market. The objectives of this study were to: Benchmark retention rates, costs, and outcomes. Identify the reasons that employees leave. Determine which practices for improving retention are most effective. Understand how retention affects organizational outcomes. pdf-file

http://www.themanager.org/Knowledgebase/HR_s/Retention_010.htm

Innovative Retention Strategies for Indian BPOs Author : Rajat Joshi