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Keeping current employees is the same as keeping current customers.  It costs less to retain employees then it does to find new employees! 

To retain top employees, organizations must become an employer of choice.    An employer of choice uses a retention strategy that appeals to what employees value in the workplace.   Surveys conducted by the Gallup Poll and Wyatt Watson indicate that workers today value a number of elements.   I like how Pam Withers, in a 2001 Workforce article, takes this information and describes a values based retention stategy that incorporates six factors:  
 

1. A sense of deeper cause
2. Employees as partners
3. A sense of community at work
4. Work / Life balance
5. Professional growth and development
6. Trust

The above list is a great way to categorize the factors in your retention strategy.   For example, for “a sense of deeper cause” you can try incorporating volunteerism or green practices into your business processes.  For “a sense of community at work” you can schedule pot-luck lunches that celebrate the diversity of your workforce and create a sense of belonging or community at work.    

There is a seventh factor that should be added to this list based upon the survey discussed in my last blog “Why Good People Leave“:

7.  Pay people right

Do you have a retention strategy that incorporates a values based approach to retention to ensure you remain or become an employer of choice?   Click here to request more tips on how you can incorporate a values based approach retention strategy at your company.

Best regards,  Joanne

Joanne Royce is the Founder of Royce & Associates, a Human Resources and Training Solutions consulting company.   She is committed to Creating Happy, Healthy and Productive Workplaces.  She helps organization create best practice retention strategies.