Retention Strategies for the HR Professionals

SHRM’s Employee Relations Expertise Panel • Presenter’s Name • 2008

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Retention Strategies for the HR Professional

Created by:

SHRM’s Employee Relations Expertise Panel

HR EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

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HR EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

Efficient and effective recruitment and retention strategies are critically important especially in light of the predicted skilled-labor shortages.

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HR EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

• On-Boarding Interviews

• Stay Interviews

• Exit Interviews

• Alumni Programs

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On-Boarding or Getting on the Bus

• An integrated experience involving a variety of tasks, activities and tools used to acclimate and engage a new employee in an organization.

• Typically includes the initial orientation process and the ensuing 3-6 months or however long it takes to get an employee “up to speed” in a particular company or discipline.

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On-Boarding

• Provides a strategic opportunity to connect with the new employee.

• Accelerates the assimilation of the new employee into the organization’s culture.

• Facilitates the delivery of the organization’s services and/or products in a more consistent manner that more effectively meets quality standards.

• Enables the organization to more quickly engage new employees and more efficiently elevate them to a level of high productivity.

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Research on Best in Class Companies

• 30 percent extend on-boarding to the first six months

• 55 percent have a manager who is responsible for the on-boarding process

• 90 percent incorporate socialization activities into the process

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Effective On-Boarding

• Increases productivity

• Reduces turnover

• Increases retention

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Three Components of theOn-Boarding Process

1. Forms management

2. Task management

3. Socialization processes designed to assimilate the new employee into the organization's culture.

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On-Boarding Forms

• New Hire Checklist for the organization

• New Hire Checklist for the department

• On-boarding survey of new hires

• Mentor Checklist

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On-Boarding Surveys

Help determine how well your on-boarding process integrates new employees into the organization, prepares them to succeed at their job, and to become fully engaged, productive members of the organization.

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Example of an On-Boarding Survey Question

The HR staff kept me well informed and provided timely responses during the hiring process.

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Characteristics of an EffectiveOn-Boarding Process

• Well-defined• Integrated with the overall hiring management process• Continued for the first six months• Automated where practicable• Linked to the organization’s business objectives and strategic plan• Measured on a regular basis for effectiveness

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Stay Interviews

• Reveal vital information about what employees like and don’t like about their jobs.  

• Can help head off an employee’s decision to quit a job.

• Allow managers to explore an employee’s feelings about their position and uncover what might make them stay.

• Reveal vital information from your employees about what they like and don’t like about their jobs.

• Can happen at either the organizational level or the managerial level.

http://www.bcjobs.ca/re/hr-centre/interview-techniques/human-resource-advice/stay-interviews

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Stay Interviews

Sometimes just having a manager who listens and is willing to work with them to discover solutions are what employees really need.

http://www.bcjobs.ca/re/hr-centre/interview-techniques/human-resource-advice/stay-interviews

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Organizational Stay Interviews/Surveys

• Unlike exit interviews, stay interviews are conducted with a random selection of employees who have been with your organization for a period of time set by you, e.g. at least 5 years.

• The selected employees respond to questions about the job, their supervisor, employee benefits, working conditions and communications.

• They are also asked why they stay with your organization and what suggestions they have to improve the work environment.

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Organizational Stay Interviews/Surveys

• Surveys are fast and can enable you to collect a lot of data and analyze it for trends

• Interviews take more time, but enable you to probe with more depth as to factors affecting an employee

• Interviews must be done in an environment of trust, by either HR or a third party

• Organizational surveys or interviews do not substitute for important employee/manager conversations

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Examples of Other Stay Interview Questions

Open-Ended• Why do you stay at this organization?

• What would make you leave?

• What motivates you to excel in your position?

• What should we do to ensure that you would stay?

• Do you believe our leaders are enlightened and understand the value of people?

Rated • I understand how my job aligns with company goals.

• I have the resources I need to effectively do my job. 

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Managerial Stay Interviews

• Best done during annual developmental discussions

• Provide key insights into how to retain a good employee and keep him/her from becoming disgruntled

• Help solidify the manager/employee relationship and build employee loyalty

• May aid in preventing an employee from becoming disgruntled

• Just listening and working to discover solutions are all your employee really needs.

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Sample Manager Stay Questions

• What do you like about your work?• Am I fully using your talents? • What can I do to make your job more satisfying and rewarding• What motivates you to excel in your position• What do you want to learn this year?• How can I support your career goals?

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If you do what you can to make your employees want to stay on board, chances are …

they won’t request a bus transfer to your competitor.

Retaining Employees

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An Example of the Impact of Stay Interviews

• St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City attributes their low employee turnover in part to "stay interviews" that their Human Resource department conducts with long term employees.

• Stay interviews are conducted with a random selection of employees who have been with the hospital for at least 5 years.

• The selected employees respond to questions about the job, their supervisor, employee benefits, working conditions and communications. They are also asked why they stay with the hospital and what suggestions they have to improve the work environment.

• Saint Luke's is often recognized for their excellence in Human Resources including being named one of the Best Places to Work by CIO Magazine.

 Kansas City Nursing News] Tuesday 02/24/04 1:41 PM

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Exit Interviews or Getting Off of the Bus

• Typically a meeting between at least one representative from a company's human resources (HR) department and a departing employee.

• A prime opportunity to gain candid information on employment conditions within your company.

• An opportunity to identify specific conditions or patterns that can influence an employee to leave, such as management behavior, compensation, benefits, etc.

• A valuable tool because they generally come with a great deal of objectivity.

www.thehumanresourceadvisors.comCopyright - 2007, The Human Resource Advisors,

All Rights Reserved

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Exit Interviews

• 96% of HR managers in a 2002 survey indicated they conduct exit interviews but only 4% conducted them in a structured or systematic way.[1] In order to be of value, the data needs to be collected and organized into a useful format to facilitate monitoring for trends or patterns in employment. Would anyone care? It’s likely!

• 76 % of executives in a 2006 survey said they do act on information gathered from exit interviews.[2]

[1] HR Executive Editorial Survey (2002). Workplace Turnover Study. Human Resource Executive Magazine

[2] HR News, SHRM, www.shrm.org/hrnews_published/archives/CMS_019375.asp (2006)

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Exit Interview Methods

Face-to-Face Meeting Exit Survey Phone Interview

• Most common approach• Conducted on or before employee’s last day• Provides opportunity for structured, interactive dialogue• Employee has opportunity to “vent” and offer suggestions

• Employee provides written feedback on an exit questionnaire • Completed before or after employee’s last day• Employee may be more candid on a written questionnaire, especially if results are tabulated anonymously

• Former employee interviewed on the phone within a few weeks after departure • May be conducted by HR representative or outsourced

• Feedback may be more objective after the former employee has “moved on”

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Topics to Cover in Exit Interviews

• Reasons for a resignation

• Employee’s perception of:

– Compensation and benefits

– Training provided

– Direct supervision

– His or her department

– Leadership

– Employee morale

– Communications within department and company

• Suggestions for improvement of company policies, practices or culture

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Sample Exit Interview Questions

• What are the main reasons you decided to leave the company?

• What factors were most important in choosing your new job?

• Under what conditions would you have stayed?

• What did you like most/least about working here?

• What recommendations would you make for improving your department or the company?

• Are there any issues you would like to address that we have not talked about?

Source: Employment Termination Source Book: A Collection of Practical Samples by Wendy Bliss and Gene R. Thornton (SHRM, 2006).

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Confidentiality of Exit Interviews

• Departing employees are more likely to be candid if they know their comments will be kept confidential or anonymous

• Tell the employee before the exit interview:• Who will have access to exit interview notes and questionnaires

• How the employee’s feedback will be used

• Generally, exit information should be kept confidential and shared with

management only on an aggregate or anonymous basis

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Alumni Programs

• Offer a unique opportunity for former and retired staff to keep in touch with your organization’s events and employment opportunities.

• Offers your organization the opportunity to access the skills and knowledge of former employees.

• Facilitate the rehiring of former workers, also called boomerang or rebounding. This can subsequently lower recruiting and on-boarding costs.

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Value of Alumni Programs

• Alumni are good business!!!

• Retention tools to keep retirees engaged in the forward movement of the company although they have exited.

• Sources of information, contacts, leads, and reputation building in the community to support company products and services.

• Sustain or enhance the organization’s reputation.

• Reduce costs since the alumni are already familiar with the organization and don’t need a long learning curve.

• Sources of volunteerism/fundraising, e.g. scholarship programs.

• Low cost processes that can deliver value.

• Dedicated resources to cover website features, hosting, customer service.

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Alumni Programs and the Boomers

• The shortage of qualified workers is coming.

• It is not enough to develop programs that just address those who actively want to remain in the workforce.

• HR needs ways to retain the retiring boomers in order to ease the burden.

• A program that helps to keep them in your work force is a win/win.

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Pitch to Retirees

• You helped to build your reputation.

• You helped to build our reputation.

• You are still important to us and we want to continue to build our relationship in another way.

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What Alumni Programs Offer to Retirees

• INFORMATION – Access to professional education, webcasts, monthly leadership articles, newsletters

• PEOPLE – Stay in touch with fellow alumni through dedicated newsletters

• EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES – Temporary assignments for employees on leaves, consulting or contract work, full-time, and/or part-time.

• BENEFITS – HRA’s, Retiree Healthcare, Camps/Daycare for Grandchildren, Eldercare for Aging Parents.

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Who Uses Alumni Programs Today

•Price Waterhouse•Pinnacle Assurance •Michigan State•Alcatel•Nortel•Monmouth College•USC Black Alumni

Good Resource: www.corporateleadershipcouncil.com

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IYAD

WYAD

YAG

WYAG!

Having Multiple Retention Strategiesis Good Business Because…