Are Managers the Key to Retention Success?

Managers as the Key to Retention Are Managers Pivotal in Terms of Employee Retention - and What Can Managers and Employees Both Do to Minimize Workplace Turnover? In this continuing sluggish economy, it seems that employers - that is, managers and bosses - should go the extra mile to keep their employees, particularly their top talent.

But, as this paper points out, there are signs that employee retention is not a priority for many companies, as a substantial number of workers (according to data presented) are thinking more about their next jobs than their present ones. The purpose of this paper is to point out - through the literature and data available to the public - that corporate America needs to get a better handle on employee satisfaction, and not just customer service.

The sources used for this paper include scholarly journals, periodicals, and texts written by respected authors. The implications of this research are that American businesses - and all the bosses within those various structures of corporate workplaces - are not paying enough attention to keeping employees happy; and meanwhile, the expensive process of re-hiring and training can be, and should be, avoided.

Look at the Literature Pertaining to Management and Retention When a powerful management consultant like Roger Herman (CIO of The Herman Group) cites several surveys indicating "that 30% to 40% of today's employees focus on their next job rather than the one they currently have" (Pay for Performance Report, 2003) it behooves managers everywhere to take a look in the mirror, take stock in their work units, and strive to develop strategies to retain - rather than lose - employees.

Herman uses the phrase "warm-chair attrition" (Pay for Performance Report, 5) in his presentations to corporate management, and it could well be taken as a warning about the storm clouds brooding on the near corporate horizon. "Employees suffering warm-chair attrition have already left their jobs, at least mentally," he states in the article.

"Their physical departure only awaits the first uptick in the job market." What are Herman's signs and signals that employees are focusing on their next job, rather than their current position? Certainly, worker absenteeism and tardiness are red flags for management to be aware of; but moreover, Herman continues, when those staff members who were once "loyal" and "dependable" now are witnessed engaging in "a marked increase in personal phone conversations," management can't ignore that forecast.

The author of an article in CIO Magazine (Santosus, 2003) which references the Herman approach, using data from surveys conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), suggests that even though a little attrition may be "a good thing," there are much larger implications for companies "when the tide turns" on the economy. "It won't be the laggards who leave," she says.

"No, the first people out the door will be the folks with the most options - the best employees in your organization." And, she concludes, "Just as the work increases [in the early hours of an improving U.S.

economy], just as you ramp up to meet the challenge of an expanding market, just when you really need their expertise, they'll be beating a path to the door." Herman, meantime, says management should put "veteran performers" through a "reorientation process." Why do that? He says since stock options are not likely the magnet they once were, new ideas must come into play to keep the company an attractive place to work.

"Find out what they like about their jobs, what they need in training, mentoring...[what] they aren't getting, and where they envision their careers going." Key in developing strategies to retain workers, though, is to consider the fact, Herman concludes, that "the corporate mission may have changed markedly since [employees] first joined, and no one has bothered to let them in on where the company's going and why they should stick around to help it get there." One strategy Herman advocates that's more pragmatic than brilliantly original is to have IT staffers "reach out to other departments." Why? This "builds relationships with other departments in the organization so that you can establish your IT employees as a resource to which they can easily turn." This can be an antidote, Herman asserts, for that "sinking feeling among IT folks that no one outside their department knows or cares about what they do." On the subject of IT employees, an article in Business Wire (March, 2004) reports on a recent study showing that companies with a high percentage of CompTIA-certified employees on their staffs not only benefit financially and operationally, but actually are able to retain employees more effectively.

"IT managers...reported lower turnover in organizations with a high percentage of CompTIA certified staff. Reduced turnover leads both directly and indirectly to reduced costs and greater productivity," the article states. Also, one can easily assume that when a non-technical employee has a glitch in a software or hardware application, that employee is going to be happier on the job if a qualified IT specialist gets the problem solved promptly and thoroughly.

Literature that stands out as extraordinarily relevant: Marcus Buckingham's Formula for Better Management Strategies Marcus Buckingham is a high-powered guru consultant whose reputation for spreading knowledge among CEO's - vis-a-vis getting the most out of employees - is among the most sterling in the field. "He's a pioneering researcher..." (LaBarre 2001) - and his best-selling business-related books are valuable tools because they overflow with truthful, practical advice and counsel for management.

Meanwhile, when asked what is basically wrong with the corporate world, according to an article in Fast Company (LaBarre 2001), he replies that of course CEOs talk about "work culture" as a rich source of competitive advantage, but then he launches into his argument. You'd be hard-pressed to find a CEO who has much of a clue about the strength of that culture. The corporate world is appallingly bad at capitalizing on the strengths of its people," he says.

His mission, then, according to LaBarre's article, is to "create a better marriage between the dreams of workers and the drive of companies to win." It would appear that Buckingham has earned his reputation by doing his homework: in his position with Gallup ("global practice leader"), he examined databases housing over a million Gallup surveys of workers around the globe, and focused on which workplaces were truly "engaged" with employees and which were not.

According to LaBarre's piece, when Buckingham crunched the numbers, he found that work units in which management was "engaged" in the process of relating to employees - and in which employees strongly agreed their strengths were well-suited and aligned with their jobs - were 50% "more likely to have lower turnover." Further, his data revealed that the above-mentioned work units were also 56% more likely to have "higher-than-average customer loyalty," 38% more likely to have productivity that is "above-average," and 27% more likely to report "higher profitability." In his book, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers do Differently (Buckingham, et al., 1999), he breaks his overall strategy down to four keys.

First, he advocates that management "Select for Talent" (talent is more pivotal than brains or experience); secondly, he says "Define the Right Outcomes" (have a plan based on not over-managing but letting employees do what you hired them to do); number three is "Focus on Strengths" (which is exactly what it sounds like); and the fourth is "Find the Right Fit" (helping employees achieve success within the structure of the company).

Buckingham's latest book - Now, Discover Your Strengths - points out that, according to an article in Modern Casting (Libby, 2004), the fact that each individual "retires billions of synapses by age 15" should have plenty of "implications for managers." That is, Libby continues, paraphrasing Buckingham's latest offering, "the brain is actually focusing on a much smaller number of synapses...thus ultimately becoming that individual's most basic strengths. This new book (co-authored with Curt Coffman) offers a way for the reader to access and then discover his or her strengths.

And moreover, the book provides another set of germane and useful keys, helping managers to "understand the concept of differing strengths"; to "build teams that balance a diversity of strengths"; to "develop human resources in step with people's actual strengths"; and to "use the system to improve the performance of critical departments." Buckingham recently spoke to delegates at the UK Institute of Leadership and Management, and he emphasized that for management to evolve from techniques used in the Industrial Age to strategies more appropriate for the IT age, a basic change in management culture must occur.

"We must learn to work on people's strengths, not weaknesses" (Millar, 2003) he pointed out.

"If you study the bad and then fix it, you get 'not bad' rather than 'good'." In an article in Modern Healthcare (Sloane, 2003), it is predicted that the "chronic shortage" of "front-line healthcare workers is set to become an epidemic." The writer Sloane predicts that "millions of vacant positions" will cause the "perfect storm" in the healthcare industry, and several of the reasons why include: "poor working conditions and compensation, the lack of a career ladder and a failure to prepare a new generation..." Sloane also notes while "recruitment and training of new workers are critical, retaining them is even more important." And creating a workplace that "...people want to stay in..." ranks just behind retention, Sloane writes.

To get people to stay, management needs to "value workers, seeking their comment and acting on it, creating a viable career ladder for them to climb and making everyone feel he or she is an important part of the team." These would seem on the service to be "no-brainer" solutions, but, alluding back to Buckingham's salient points, managers in healthcare environments apparently have no more of a clue than managers in other industries.

One of Sloan's concluding points is worth mentioning: "People want to be part of something bigger than themselves, but they also want respect." If managers would give workers "their due" they will tend to be "loyal." If no respect is given, "a hospital position is just another job, one with long hours, high stress and relatively low pay for the skills and effort required." Working for my boss is like being seduced by an Arab prince, only to find out the next day that you've been sold into white slavery." That quote introduces Chapter One ("The Boss With Five Brains") (Bing, 88) from the humorous yet delightfully appropriate book, Crazy Bosses: Spotting Them, Serving Them, Surviving Them.

One need not read very far into this book to see that these kinds of "crazy" management types tend to drive good employees out the door. If a potential employee of a company has the investigative ability, and the sense to examine a workplace environment prior to accepting a job, these five management types would be the kind to avoid on the job at all costs.

The five "brains" in managers / bosses that employees should look out for - and that employees should know about ahead of taking jobs in that company, if at all possible - are (88): 1) "The broad yellow backstripe of the confirmed bully...the guy who likes to thunder into his space...and scream his head off just for fun..." 2) "Next comes the trembling paranoid who shuts his door, refers all calls and visitors to [someone else]...and who "has a fear of human contact." 3) Third is the "...diseased manager" who is often "such a self-obsessed narcissist that he sees all those around him as tiny flecks in the majestic spectacle that is his life story." 4) The fourth type is the "bureau-crazy...on the one hand, he might be a pure wimp..

[or he might be] a mind paralyzed by appearances and form"; and there is the bureaucrazy "organized fascist..." who also fits the mold of one paralyzed by form without any substance.

5) The fifth crazy boss (89) is the disaster hunter, "working to push himself to the brink of catastrophe...addictive personalities [such as] alcoholic or a drug addict." Bing offers advice for employees in terms of quitting the boss and not the job (quitting the crazy boss in particular) (98): "Break the Cord" (don't become emotionally dependent on the boss); "Do the Job" ("competence is always the best defense..."); "Stay Frosty" ("do everything in your power to keep your shirt on while those around you are losing theirs..."); "Work His Head" (find out what his fears are and give them "meat and bone"); and "Be Prepared" ("he will fall, make no mistake...when he does, you have to have the kind of relations with his superiors that decree your continued existence after he is gone...").

Meantime, one very important principle reviewed in the book The Greatest Management Principle in the World (LeBoeuf, 79-81) is loyalty, and how to get it from employees. LeBoeuf writes that commitment "is a lot like sex: 1. Everybody wants it. 2. those who talk the most about it are probably getting the least of it. 3. It's impossible to get it without giving it." His basic formula for getting loyalty from employees, and hence reducing the flow of good workers out the door, is six-fold: Provide job security;.