Employee Retention Management and Measures
There are a number of different means by which contemporary companies and their human resource departments can retain the talent they are able to attract to their organizations. Some of these are based on providing palpable employee value. Of equal importance is the ability to create salient brands which can increase employee attention rates, in addition to performance management tactics. All of these approaches should coalesce to form an environment in which employees favor remaining with an organization, rather than leaving it.

Branding positively affects employee retention in a number of critical ways. Firstly, it is a key point of differentiation between an organization and its competitors’, since it involves some of the core values and attributes of an organization. Organizations tend to become known—both to the general public as well as to those operating within their industries—according to their brands. This notion is readily supported by the reality that brands represent both the distinctiveness and the quality of a particular company (Cascio, 2014, p. 122). When employees are associated with a brand that is viewed as propitious or even dominant within their industry, such a perception can contribute to their wanting to prolong their relationship with that brand. For instance, industry stalwarts such as Sony, Coca Cola, or even Google are known for dominating their industries because of their market shares and respective branding. This industry wide reputation stemming from the branding of these companies is a compelling factor in getting employees to remain with these companies—simply because it is attractive to remain with premier organizations (Cascio, 2014, p. 122).

Also, there are certain elements of performance management which can assist with keeping employees competent and productive enough to stay with an organization. Oftentimes, managing employee performance annually with yearly evaluations of their aptitude for working at the company is insufficient (Cascio, 2014, p. 123). It is much more beneficial to make this cycle substantially shorter and to use it as a feedback mechanism for both parties—the employer and the employee. Performance evaluations grant employers the opportunities to gauge their employees’ strengths, weakness, and the aspects of their jobs they need assistance in so they can ideally perform better. Simultaneously, however, such evaluations provide chances for employees to engage with their employers and discuss any pertinent issues or facets of the job that are contributing to their overall performance and welfare at work. Regular, interactive performance management presents opportunities for each of these parties to articulate their expectations of each other (Cascio,...…value equity in retaining employees (Shore et al, 2004, p. 292); employees tend to desire to prolong relationships with organizations which are providing these tangible benefits commensurate to the efforts the employees are making on a daily basis.

In addition to brand equity, which was alluded to earlier in this research paper, the other two forms of equity also include retention equity. This form of equity is perhaps even more direct than value equity, although value equity is implicit in its functionality. Demonstrations of this type of equity involve factors such as promotions, career advancements, career latitude (including perks such as working from home or traveling to desirable locations to perform work) (Cardy & Lengnick-Hall, 2011, p. 215) and other means of acceding to the desires of employees. There is a direct correlation between the ability of organizations—as largely actuated throughout their human resource departments—to meet the desires of employees and the prolongation of that employee within that organization’s service.

Overall, these different techniques for managing and measuring employee retention are based on empirical research proving their efficacy in improving employee retention. By utilizing them, companies can retain their talent and ideally attract more talent. These measures are based on employee equity, branding, and value alignment between organizations and their laborers…