According to mondaq.com, the five main reasons that employees leave are the ideas that the person does not feel good to be at their work anymore, they feel they wouldn’t be missed if they left, they do not receive the support and tools they need to properly accomplish their jobs, there is not any opportunity for advancement, and they do not get paid enough. As with any corporation or organization, it is sometimes difficult to find adequate staff that meet the needs of the company and are willing to stay with the company through the years. People have needs just like businesses have needs. This paper will demonstrate the strategies which ABC must follow to better retain its’ employees.
ABC Company has gone through a great deal of change over the past couple of years. It has acquired a new CEO, there have been changes in executive leadership, the rollout of the news sales strategy came out, and many other changes have taken place as well. The next issue to tackle is employee retention. The primary goal of the following retention strategy is to ensure the turnover rate for sales leaders, operational managers, and customer service representatives is reduced. In order to address the retention issue, interviews were conducted and the findings were as follows: The employee morale is low; organizational goals are lacking; there have been no salary reviews or increases, and the Customer Service Representatives’ salaries are therefore no longer competitive.
The next step is to determine the strategies that are needed to better retain employees. The first step to retaining employees is to select the best candidates initially according to Jeremy Geadrities in his article, Representative Retention: Control Your Customer Service. (2014.) In identifying the key traits needed in customer service representatives, you are better able to hire the best fit for the position. The representatives must be adaptable, with ambivert personalities and creativity. Once employees are hired, they must have all the tedious paperwork out of the way prior to their official first day. On their first day, they must be introduced to the company staff, given a broad overview, and managed proactively thereafter. Happy workers are often more productive workers. Although finances may not allow for salary increases, it is important to show the employees that they matter, and they can have a career with the company. Sales incentives, or employee of the month mechanisms are good ideas as well. Various team building exercises may also be utilized to ensure the morale of the employees is at its best.
“More than ever, employees want a culture of openness and shared information.” (Five Top Employee Retention Strategies, 2011.) The first tool to implement is an employee review system or evaluation system. This tool is not only so employee productivity and retention can be tracked, but also to enable the employees a way to voice their concerns, and ask for more opportunities. The employee evaluation should happen semi-annually or annually, and there should be an area where the employee can record their goals, and what cross training, or opportunities they would like to see. The company is headed in a new direction in so many ways. Employee morale and retention is able to grow as well. If the environment and culture of the company changes, so will the attitudes of the employees, thus retaining productive happy employees.
Keeping the managers and employees welfare in mind will be the key to any and all strategies. A regular training program must also be in effect. By training the managers how to effectively communicate with their staff, the employees will be more productive, and feel more valued. The company should also celebrate employees’ anniversaries so that all employees feel valued for staying with the company. Incentives and morale building are the keys to better employee retention. If all of the steps that have been set forth in this paper, the company will see results much like it has in all the other categories.
- Mayhew, Ruth. (n.d.) How to Write a Retention Plan. Retrieved April 8, 2016 from http://work.chron.com/write-retention-plan-12119.html
- Geadrities, Jeremy. (2014.) Representative Retention: Control Your Customer Service. Retrieved April 8, 2016 from http://www.hyrell.com/blog/representative-retention-control-your-customer-service
- UK: Five Top Employee Retention Strategies. (2011.) Retrieved April 8, 2016 from http://www.mondaq.com/x/155322/Five+Top+Employee+Retention+Strategies
