To promote cooperation and teamwork, remember, people tend to resist that which is forced upon them. People tend to support that which they helped create. Vince Pfaff
Employee turnover has a huge impact on an organization. Financially – where the “replacement costs” of an employee can be up to four times her salary. Motivationally – where other team members may question their own job satisfaction and disengage. According to a recent survey of 1,000 Americans by career expert, Michelle McQuaid, two-thirds of American employees are unhappy with their jobs. What’s the main reason? They’re unhappy with their bosses. As a result, this is costing companies $360 billion annually in lost productivity. The interesting fact is that 65% of those surveyed indicated that a better boss would make them happier in their current jobs, and only 35% indicated that a pay raise would offer them the same happiness. Here are some additional statistics from Ms. McQuaid’s survey that are important to leaders:
31% of those surveyed feel uninspired and unappreciated by their boss. Close to 15% feel downright miserable, bored and lonely.
38% described their boss as great; 42% say their bosses don’t work very hard and close to 20% say their boss has little or no integrity.
60% say they would do a better job if they got along better with their boss.
70% say they would be happier if they got along with their boss.
So, if the old retention philosophy of offering a pay increase or a promotion isn’t what’s working for today’s workforce, what can a manager do to get good people to stay?
Your goal as a leader should be to foster the potential in your high performers and get those good people to stay. As you can see from the survey results, employee retention 1.0, i.e. focused on financial rewards and incentives, are becoming the approach of the past. It’s time to implement employee retention 2.0.