Rate this article:
Average rating:
Total votes: 1
Replacing an employee costs about twice that employee's annual salary, once you factor in the costs associated with recruitment, training, severance and lost productivity, according to 42 percent of respondents to a Right Management Consultants survey of 444 organizations across North America. Another 26 percent said it costs three times the employee's salary.
It's no wonder then that 47 percent of HR professionals see employee retention as their number one concern, according to a survey by Express Personnel Services. Hiring good employees is important, but keeping them is even more critical.
Fortunately, retention doesn't have to cost a lot of money, as some companies have discovered. Perhaps you can employ these creative perks where you work.
Reach Employees Where They Live -- Wherever That May Be
In 1992, 7 percent of the workforce at retail pharmacy giant CVS was age 50-plus. Today, that figure stands at 18 percent, says the company's director of government programs Stephen Wing. The company even has 1,800 employees in their 80s and four in their 90s.
One of the ways CVS retains older pharmacists is by accommodating snowbirds -- those who move to warm, southern climates during the fall and winter and then migrate back to northern locales during the spring and summer. For example, 79-year-old pharmacist Bill Duclos splits his time between CVS stores in Carver, Massachusetts (May to October), and Bonita Springs, Florida (October to May), allowing him to stay with the company instead of retiring -- taking some 50 years of experience with him.
Keep in Touch with Workers
The answer to employee-retention concerns can be as simple as asking your workers what they want and what needs changing.
That's what junk removal service 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has done with It's All About People (IAAP), a company committee that identifies problems and solicits potential solutions via in-depth interviews with employees.
"Part of being a great workplace and retaining the best people is finding out what is most important to the team," says company CEO Brian Scudamore. "The IAAP committee provides a safe, nonthreatening environment for employees to communicate their feedback."
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based firm has been named the top company to work for in the province two years in a row by BC Business magazine.
Bring in a Cold Nose
Larry Schmaltz has been bringing his dog to work since 1995. When his suburban Tampa environmental consulting firm, A2L Technologies, outgrew its office space in 2002 and bought a new building, it seemed only natural the A2L president and CEO would include a doggie door and fenced-in backyard in the remodeling plans.
That's when Schmaltz first started to notice something interesting. "When interviewing one of my first employees as the business grew, we started talking about our dogs," he says. "I said that we took ours to work every day and that he would be welcome to bring his."
Being a dog-friendly workplace "cinched the deal," Schmaltz says. Company staff have been bringing their dogs to work ever since.
"I have not lost a good employee -- one I've wanted to keep -- since I started the business, so I'm not sure that claiming to have a dog-friendly workplace would be an accurate assessment for high retention," Schmaltz concedes. However, as he points out, "we're in a business where good employees are bombarded by headhunters looking to steal engineers and geologists for other firms. I know that my employees probably receive calls every month, and none have jumped ship."
Besides, Schmaltz adds, "it's amazing the amount of levity and calmness that dogs bring to the office."