Improving employee retention

Last month, we followed along as Jane and Bob examined motivation and how each team member is motivated differently. Now, Jane and Bob are looking at how to improve employee retention by creating an environment that reduces stress while improving energy and morale.

Statistics consistently show that employees leave companies more often because of unhappiness with their role or environmental conditions rather than compensation.

What kind of environmental conditions?Environmental stressors include change (especially big changes), which can include:

• new department head

• downsizing

• merger or acquisition

• team member challenges

• new job responsibilities or project

Jane and Bob need to be aware that these issues cause stress. While there isn't anything they can do about these conditions (when you need a new department head, you need one!), they can be aware that they are stressful.

Then, there are home stressors.

Sometimes stressors are from employees' home life. For example, someone gets a promotion and all the sudden, he is working very long hours. Maybe it's not a problem with his home life, or maybe it is. It's important to be aware of the possible problems that might arise that could cause stress.

Having a star employee whose home life is a wreck is eventually going to become Jane and Bob's problem at work. Be aware.

What stress does to a companyStress causes energy drains in staff, reduced productivity, increased mistakes, and a reduced amount of patience and tolerance. Obviously, none of this is good for Jane and Bob, the team, the company, the clients, or you.

With many people who are stressed, they don't communicate their issues, and so their course of action is flight or fight. We already know that stress causes less tolerance, and minor scrapes or big blowups are likely to occur somewhere (fight). Let's just hope it's not with your most important client.

When flight occurs, the employee simply leaves. Perhaps the first time you are aware there was a problem was when she resigns. By then, it's too late.

The improving-energy-and-morale partAs we reduce stress, an individual's energy and morale both improve. It's a direct inverse ratio: decrease one; the other increases.

To continue on their path of decreasing stress and improving energy and morale, Jane and Bob watch for areas that might increase stress for an individual and then address it. Ignoring it and hoping it will go away is more likely to make the person go away, not the problem.