Employee retention: what's your strategy? (Service).

Some clubs have very shallow (if any at all) employee recruitment programs; however, most do not have one at all. More important, the vast majority of companies and clubs that I work with do not have a well-planned, focused, or effective employee retention strategy.

This strategy should be well organized, measurable, be a club priority, club-wide, and involve all members of the staff, management, and front-line alike. It must be well-tracked and its effectiveness monitored on an on-going basis.

All managers should be held accountable for employee turnover and the huge costs involved. I firmly believe that employee turnover cost awareness is not communicated to managers and therefore is not a priority. These costs should be a part of every department's profit and loss statement, and an integral aspect of each department's budget. Currently, there is very little accountability placed on management's shoulders for employee retention. Employee turnover and retention should be a topic of discussion at every executive committee meeting, staff meeting, department meeting, etc. Yet I find this is seldom the case.

When I think of employee recruitment, I keep coming up with the same simple theory: If we can retain more of our employees and lower employee turnover, then we would not have to spend the time and dollars on employee recruitment. Makes sense to me!

Effective employee retention begins with the interviewing, screening, and hiring process. When clubs retain more of their employees and when leaders aggressively work on employee development and internal promotions, then less time and money will be spent on employee recruitment.

Employee turnover is inevitable; however, it is amazing how many clubs do not do conduct effective exit interviews with their employees who resign. It is extremely important that the reasons for employee resignations and termination's be accurately tracked. If management doesn't know why employees are leaving, especially within the first 90 days, then they can't resolve the employee turnover challenges facing them.

Here are the primary reasons employees resign within their first 90 days of employment:

1.) The new employee did not fully understand what the job involved. Most likely, management did not properly communicate what the employee's job responsibilities were when he was offered, and ultimately accepted, the position.

2.) The new employee feels as if he has been "thrown to the wolves" and was not properly trained. Effective training is not a cost, but rather an investment in the future of the club.

3.) The new employee never had that "all-important sense of belonging." He felt like an outsider and ultimately did not feel he was a member of the team.

4.) The new employee did not like or respect his manager and/or did not receive any guidance from that manager.

It is only after these four reasons for employee resignations that new employees even mention wages and benefits.

Management must focus on what their clubs are doing to make sure there is the right fit between the employee and the job. Management must also understand that just because an employee may have experience in a certain field doesn't mean they are best suited for that field.

Quality training without quality selection (and visa-versa) of employees will result in tremendous amounts of lost dollars and time spent on employee recruitment. This will also result in extremely low employee retention. There is only one thing worse than a trained employee who quits, and that is an untrained employee who stays.

The culture (or lack of) within the organization will definitely be one of the biggest reasons for employee defections and at the same time can and should be the most effective and cost-free mode of recruiting employees. If the club leadership is truly going to make the commitment toward lowering employee defections, then the organizational culture must be expressed through leadership's actions, decisions, and behaviors and then shared by all members of the organization. Their club must be perceived as a great place to work.

When management's compensation in part is based on employee turnover, the club will find that employee turnover will decrease dramatically. It is in this light that we must focus on leadership skills to effect employee retention.

Lack of orientation and training is one of the main complaints heard from new employees, yet few clubs take the time to effectively train new-hires or have the new employee review the training program to ensure that the club has given him the tools he needs to provide the member with the superior level of service they deserve. This should be done between two and four weeks after the training is completed and the employee has had the opportunity to experience his new club, its training, and culture.

Those clubs that have the highest levels of employee retention are those clubs that are employee- and service-driven. Those that are not had better budget effectively for the employee turnover they are going to experience. Quality and service are interdependent. You cannot define quality or service without viewing it from the customer's perspective, and your employees are your customers too.