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www.columbusmessenger.com <strong>June</strong> 12, <strong>2022</strong> - GROVE CITY LIVING - PAGE 7<br />
HR Essentials: Employee retention in the age of turnover<br />
By Rachel Kutay<br />
My Business Resource<br />
HR Essentials is the Human Resources information<br />
column written by <strong>Grove</strong> <strong>City</strong> Area<br />
Chamber of Commerce member Rachel Kutay<br />
specifically for the Chamber. Rachel owns and<br />
operates local business My Business Resource,<br />
and is active with the Chamber’s<br />
WE:LEAD program.<br />
Are you making a difference where you<br />
work? Do you feel valued in your organization?<br />
Are you treated fairly? If you answered<br />
‘no’, or ‘maybe,’ or ‘I don’t know’ then you<br />
might be one of the millions of people just<br />
waiting for (or actively pursuing) your next<br />
job.<br />
For business owners, the “Great Resignation”<br />
has presented a difficult challenge —<br />
how do we retain our workforce?<br />
It hurts to lose a great employee and can<br />
leave you scrambling to cover their workload<br />
and find a replacement.<br />
To understand the solution to how we retain<br />
employees, we need to first understand<br />
why they leave in the first place. One of the<br />
most common reasons?<br />
The job and environment makes it too<br />
stressful to stay. Compensation and benefits<br />
are one of the most common drivers of<br />
turnover.<br />
Many employees are looking for more<br />
than a job — if you can’t provide mentoring<br />
and professional development, the best employees<br />
will go where they can find it.<br />
Why is this so important?<br />
Retention directly affects the company’s<br />
bottom line. It can take anywhere from two<br />
to six months for a new employee to become<br />
productive.<br />
Even after that time period, as employees<br />
gain more tenure they typically become<br />
more and more productive.<br />
So how to we start to turn the Great Resignation<br />
into the Great Retention? Retention<br />
starts with attention to people.<br />
Employees disengage for four main reasons:<br />
(1) the job, (2) their manager, (3) the organization<br />
and (4) the team. Let’s address these<br />
challenges one by one.<br />
First, we can start by designing jobs with<br />
growth opportunities. Begin with a clear job<br />
description and include the learning and development<br />
that can be expected as part of<br />
the position.<br />
It is critically important to understand<br />
the market rate for each of your positions.<br />
Salaries have escalated extremely quickly<br />
over the past several months, and if you<br />
don’t know what your competition is paying<br />
you can’t attract the best talent.<br />
Next, develop great leaders in your management<br />
team. In a recent study, confidence<br />
was listed as the most valued trait in a manager,<br />
followed by effective communication<br />
skills.<br />
Leading by example goes a long way to<br />
improve morale. Scheduling regular one-onone<br />
conversations is important to ensure<br />
that employees have regular check ins with<br />
their manager and a voice in the organization.<br />
Employees have more choice than ever,<br />
so it’s important to communicate not just<br />
what your company does, but what your<br />
company believes in.<br />
It helps if employees understand how<br />
their jobs play into a larger goal or mission.<br />
Provide clear and early communication<br />
about your culture and values.<br />
Regularly take the “temperature” of your<br />
team by conducting engagement surveys to<br />
know how satisfied your team is.<br />
Do they need more flexibility in their<br />
schedules? Is remote or hybrid work an option?<br />
Finally, employees who are connected to<br />
their teammate are more likely to stay with<br />
their company.<br />
Your onboarding can include formal and<br />
informal ways to meet coworkers and become<br />
embedded in the organization. Team<br />
retreats and events help your employees<br />
bond.<br />
When employees leave, ask them why in<br />
an exit interview. Then create strategies to<br />
address any issues raised. People drive your<br />
business, and unhappy people can grind it<br />
to a halt.<br />
These practical and impactful retention<br />
strategies will help you take action.<br />
Danbury Senior Living<br />
On May 17, Danbury Senior Living invited<br />
various Chamber and community members<br />
to join in their ribbon cutting ceremony.<br />
L & V<br />
BOOKEEPING<br />
LLC<br />
Lisa Vivens, EA, MBA, NTPI Fellow<br />
Tax Services • Bookkeeping • Payroll Services<br />
Phone: (614) 754-0673 • Cell Phone: (614) 214-2357<br />
Fax: (614) 443-2059 lvbook.tax@gmail.com<br />
Proud Member of NAEA & OSSEA<br />
2647 Clime Road, Columbus, OH 43223 Authorized Provider
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