The recent data are not terribly encouraging: worldwide, the great resignation, or reshuffling, or whatever you prefer to call it, appears to be accelerating as more people plan to change jobs in the coming months. It makes one feel as though one cannot catch a break.
This raises the question again about how to retain employees. And today I’m happy to offer a different and, I think, better answer–and a positive perspective–that can not only help reduce turnover woes but can also, at the same time, enable you to strengthen your entire organisation.
The idea is simple: what motivates people to stay at a particular job?
This is another example of the hidden truths within a workplace that, when revealed, can be exceptionally powerful and useful for leaders. Understanding what motivates people to stay at a job looks beyond the elements of pay and benefits, and delves into the intangibles that can make or break the employee’s experience. What would you learn if you could ask everyone within your organisation that question? That data would be revelatory.
We have released a new eBook and On-Demand survey that explores the concept of “Stay Factors,” – those elements that motivate employees to stay with your company–and enables you to assess their strength within your company.
What you can gain by concentrating on what motivates people to stay at a job
Understanding your organisation’s stay factors can be incredibly inspiring and rewarding for you personally. After all, the Stay Factors represent the aspects of your workplace the people find so satisfying and so compelling that they’re willing to overlook not just the negative aspects of their work, but external opportunities as well.
Researchers have identified ten Stay Factors, and understanding the strength of these different elements within your workplace is an important starting point. If you can identify your areas of excellence, whilst also understanding with precision where improvements can be made, you can achieve marvelous things.
Discovering what’s compelling people to leave
First and foremost, you can remove the factors that compel people to consider leaving the company. Given the fact that the prognosticators are continuing to adjust the cost of replacing employees upward – the latest stats now suggests that those costs start at about 50% of a departing employee’s salary and can rise to as much as 200% depending upon the expertise and seniority of the role – I don’t need to discuss the value of this particular aspect much further.
Improving the employee experience – for everyone
However, improving the elements that motivate people to stay within the organisation also improves your entire employee experience. Is wonderfully sustainable and efficient. Instead of offering one employee a retention bonus, you’re making improvements that are experienced and appreciated by all employees. This is scalable, and it’s efficient.
Creating competitive advantage
The third thing to consider is the improvement that you can make to your overall employee value proposition. This is no small matter. Understanding the state factors within your company and taking action to strengthen any that are flagging will help you differentiate your employer brand from competitors in the job market. Put more simply, it’s an opportunity for you to seize competitive advantage and position the organisation as an employer of choice.
eBook: The Workplace People Don’t Want to Leave
I encourage you to read our eBook, “The Workplace People Don’t Want to Leave.” It’s packed with practical advice for assessing and improving the Stay Factors within your organisation, as well as a robust section on conducting stay interviews in a manner that enables the organisation to gather meaningful and actionable insights.
Free offer: Assess the Stay Factors in your organisation
To aid you in the assessment of your organisation’s stay factors, we have also created a new On-Demand survey that allows that enables you to quickly and easily assess the strength of the state factors within your organisation, and swiftly pinpoint where opportunities for improvement exist.
Fine-tuning can make all the difference when it comes to performance, and your team is no exception. Assessing the stay factors within your organisation, celebrating those that are central to your company culture, and investing in strengthening those that are not contributing to the employee experience are examples of the fine-tuning that can move an organisation from producing to outperforming.
If you’re already an Engagement Multiplier client, the new survey is available for use in your dashboard. If you’re not a client, I invite you to assess your organisation’s stay factors with my compliments. Simply fill out this form and a member of my team will organise the details for you.
