WorkLife Design - Retaining the Best

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Retaining The Best
by Richard S Deems, PhD

Excerpted from Hiring: How to Find and Keep the Best People

It only took a few years but over those years a major company went from being a city's top employer to being regarded in the marketplace as "just average." A position with that company is still considered okay, but people don't rush to work there with the same energy they used to. Several years ago people would gladly wait for months just for the opportunity to be interviewed. Many would take lesser positions just to get inside the company.

The organization was known for having great managers, allowing flexible schedules, and providing the kinds of learning programs so people could be successful in their jobs. But it changed. As the company grew its management core became more pushy and intimidating, there was less room for flexibility, and training was drastically reduced. People didn't enjoy working there as much as they used to.

Across town a smaller company was working hard to grow. It's CEO knew it needed top minds, because its client base was changing, the markets were changing, and there were constantly new products to deal with. The CEO set out to hire top minds.

He made certain the work environment was physically inviting. He made sure his executive group knew how to coach and develop their managers so that employees were productive at the same time they were glad that they worked there. The company's pay scale wasn't the highest in town, but it began to attract the best people.

Why? Because people enjoyed working there! They liked the surroundings, the way they were treated, their co-workers, the work to get accomplished, and the efforts made to help people be successful. They have a waiting list of people who want to work there.

So what?

To be totally effective in the new century you need to not only hire the best people but have the kind of work environment that keeps the best people. The environment doesn't have to include the highest pay for similar jobs but you do have to be the kind of place where people want to work. Based on our research, and the global workplace research of others, here are three major considerations for keeping the best.

Lifetime affiliation

The first consideration is to acknowledge that you can't keep every great person you hire. Some will find new challenges, be led into new directions, find new interests and even have offers that no one could turn down. Key people will leave for a variety of reasons. If their leaving has nothing to do with how you manage the organization then instead of worrying about lifetime employment, begin to think in terms of lifetime affiliation.

The preferred word is alumni, according to Fast Company magazine's writer Scott Kirsner (August, 1998 "Gone Tomorrow?", pp 138ff). "Forget all your old ideas about who works for you and how," Kirsner wrote. "The day someone walks out the door doesn't mark the end of your relationship with that person. It marks the start of a new stage in that relationship."

The goal? A lifetime affiliation in which key people, the best people, feel free to return, are informed about your organization's work, and become some of your most enthusiastic supporters.

You begin with a commitment to stay in touch with alumni which can include sending them newsletters, announcements of new products and services, annual reports, and even updated lists of alumni. Some companies send out position announcements for key vacancies, hoping an alum might return or recommend just the right person to fill the vacancy - because the alumnus already know and appreciate the organization.

Think of it in terms of developing a new kind of relationship.

It's the kind of relationship in which people feel they can return, or continue to support your organization because it not only does great work but it's a great place to work. It's the kind of relationship in which you keep them informed of your organization's ups and downs and you communicate with them regularly.

Sometimes an alumni, after gaining new experiences and wisdom from another position, decides their preference is really to be back working with you. They know the organization. You've kept in touch with them so they know the changes that have been made. They've learned new strategies and made mistakes at someone else's expense and now, even more seasoned, they're ready to return. You keep the best.

Often it is an alumni who can suggest another top candidate that you should be talking with. Since you've kept these former employees informed they know, when they meet the best, where the best can fit within your organization. In this role they are acting as your personal headhunter without the expense. They help you keep the best.

And who knows when an alumni can recommend your new product or service because you've kept them informed as to the company's emerging activities? There can be no stronger supporter than someone who had been successful within your organization, who voluntarily left for whatever reason, is someone you've maintained contact with through various ways, and who recalls their experience with your organization as some of the best of their career.

Who knows…?

Quality Free-Time

In the past several years there have been a number of employee actions that have one basic cause: there was no time for personal and family activities. One particularly bitter striker against Titan Tire's Des Moines plant, according to newspaper accounts, reported that he had to take a day's vacation so he could go to Easter church services with his family. He had worked six straight weeks without a day off. He was tired.

Tomorrow's employees won't tolerate those kinds of hours. They're not shirkers but they won't tolerate the kind of workplace where there is not time for personal and family activities. They will exit on their own, and no-thank-you, they will not welcome being one of your alumni.

A nephew of mine is a key bank executive, handling major accounts and working directly with corporations to structure their loans and lines of credit. He has personally increased the bank's book of business in significant ways. He enjoys his work. But he's ready to leave. "Sometimes my mind is fried, and I just need time to get away," he reports.

He goes on and talks about the times when the phone rings Friday afternoon and when he hangs up he has to call home to tell the kids he can't take them to the zoo on Saturday. Instead, he'll be in the office to meet with a client. He will be missed when he leaves and the bank will lose some of the business he developed. But he wants time for his wife and family.

Recently our company, WorkLife Design, was called in to explore why a company was having such a high turnover in one department. A number of key people had left within the past several months, we were told, and the company wanted to know why. What we found was that it was more than just a few people. Actual turnover was running over 50% and within 5 months the company had already exceeded its annual recruiting budget. Exit interviews had suggested that turnover had to with dollars, as several exiting employees reported they would be receiving higher salaries in their new positions.

After conducting depth interviews with both current and former employees it was found that money had little to do with turnover. Though there were a number of reasons why people had voluntarily exited, one of the most common experiences was that people were working such long hours they didn't have time for personal and family activities. As salaried professionals they were working ten-plus hour days, and back on Saturdays and Sundays.

"It finally got to me," reported one person, "when after working the past two weekends I was told I couldn't leave on Tuesday at 3:30 to watch my son play soccer. I quite on the spot. It was worth it."

Time is of increasing importance to workers and balancing work, home, learning, and play is a major issue. For many, there is less time than years earlier. Juliet B Schor, in her classic work, The Overworked American, (Basic Books, 1991) documented what many people are increasingly experiencing: the work week is getting longer, and people have less leisure than two decades ago.

If your work culture doesn't allow time for people to have a life outside the workplace you won't be able to keep the best. A growing number of top people won't put up with long hours. They would rather earn less and have more time with family and friends. The big house, the luxury car, the fancy clothes are not as important as home and family. The best talent will not stay if you make inordinate demands on their time, energy, and lives.

Personal and Organizational Growth

The days of managing by yelling and screaming are gone. There are still those who yell and scream, but they won't be able to keep the best. What keeps the best today is a workplace culture that focuses on growth. Personal growth. Intellectual growth. Skills growth. Organizational growth.

These are all growth items, and the kind of growth people look for will vary. For some it may be organizational growth, as in being part of an organization that grows in size. For others, organizational growth will instead focus on growth in quality and insight, and size if that's a natural by-product.

The organizations who keep the best will be those whose managers focus on growth, who know how to nurture and develop people, and who learn from mistakes. But yell at people because of a mistake, or because they didn't do something the way you thought it ought to be done but didn't bother to tell them, or because you put people down in front of others, and the best will leave. Worse yet, the best won't even be applying.

Managing for growth begins with the assumption that people are active constructors, not just pawns within the workplace. People carry an innate drive to create something larger than themselves, to be part of an organization that thrives. People are naturally motivated and empowered to be successful.

Employees will strive to learn new skills when the workplace encourages learning and growth. This doesn't mean that everybody agrees with each other all the time. In many of the organizations who attract and keep the best the people heatedly discuss the most effective ways to get things done. Once the decision is made, the energy gets turned to making it work. To growth. Development. Being more the next year than the person or the organization was the year before.

The natural striving is growth and development and when the workplace culture embraces that striving the best people will be working.

The emerging workplace is one in which organizations that attract and retain the best are those that experience near zero turnover because they know that "work" means more than simply a paycheck. They understand that people work to feel productive. To learn and grow. To engage with others. To make a difference. To have fun.

People often associated with the research and practice of a vital workplace include the leadership styles work of Chris Argyris, Edward Lawler's employee involvement systems, and the more fully human organizations and work of Omar Aktouf. The idea of reinventing work or working with soul are also discussed by such people as Matthew Fox, Lee Bolman, Terrance Deal, Alan Briskin and Terri A. Deems.

People and organizations who seem to be breaking the most new ground, and making the most significant and sustainable changes while reaping respectable profits, are not always the ones writing about it. Instead, they are doing it. Their management model is "management by common sense" and they structure their organizations with a firm and viable respect for people.

As Joseph Sullivan, Chair and CEO of VigoroCorp, describes: "We don't invest people with human dignity. Employees have it before, during, and after employment with us. We managers can, however, provide an environment that enhances their dignity."

Richard S Deems, PhD, is president of WorkLife Design, with offices in Des Moines, Scottsdale, and Moline. He is author of Hiring: How to Find and Keep the Best People, published by Career Press, 1999. You can email him at rsdeems@worklifedesign.com

SIDEBAR Three resources which have had an impact on the emerging workplace include:

Ricardo Semler, Maverick: The success story behind the world's most unusual workplace, New York: Warner Books, 1993. Tells the story of the transformation of Semco, a large Brazilian based manufacturing company, from a traditional to a self-directed workplace.

Peter Senge, The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, New York: Doubleday, 1990. Describes the five key principals essential for an organization to continuously learn and improve.

Marsha Sinetar, Do what you love, the money will follow: Discovering your right livelihood, New York, Paulist Press, 1987. Discusses the role of values and vision for creating the kind of worklife a person wants.

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