The Employee Turnover Cure

Chapter One

Employee Turnover By The Numbers And Why Retention Is So Poor

• Bloomberg Business’ unbelievable estimate of how much unwanted employee turnover costs U.S. Businesses each year
• Do you know the difference between “good” and “bad” turnover?
• Why all turnover isn’t created equal
• The truth about counter-offers – and whether it’s worth trying to “save” someone who has just given you their notice
• The reason why you should outright ignore “neutral” turnover – even though so many managers complain about it
• The single biggest myth nearly all managers have about employee retention that is irrefutably wrong (and why this train of thought actually leads to MORE turnover and less employee loyalty)
• The counter-intuitive mindset you should have about your employees that compels you to be a better manager
• The #1 reason why employees quit and why bad managers don’t believe it to be true
• Why you should assume all your employees are on the verge of quitting, the data that backs up this assertion – and how it will help you avoid unwanted turnover
• Jack Welch’s draconian management tactic that modern companies and managers may want to adapt and adopt (it seems cruel, but it’s often necessary)
• Attention Managers: Gallup poll that measures the tangible benefit “good managers” have on employee retention, earnings and customer retention

Chapter Two

6-Step Framework For Increasing Employee Retention

How to measure your “bad” turnover rate, pinpoint and eliminate the causes and minimize aftershock to keep morale high when it does happen

Step 1: Figuring out if you have a turnover problem – and to what extent

• Why throwing more money and perks at people does little to prevent unwanted turnover – and the most important puzzle pieces you need to fit together
• Do you know your unwanted turnover rate? Here are the 4 steps to figure it out and why you should track this number annually
• If your turnover rate is below this threshold you definitely don’t have a turnover issue

Step 2: How to pinpoint the causes of unwanted turnover

• Do you really know why people leave your company? (Here’s why your assumptions are probably wrong, even though you work side-by-side with your employees every day)
• How to use these four tools dig deeper and … find the real causes of unwanted turnover
• Is there really any value in exit interview when the departing employee has already “checked out?”
• How to avoid the two bad outcomes of stay interviews
• The difference between employee-manager meetings and stay interviews
• The make or break role of performance reviews on employee retention
• Why employee satisfaction surveys aren’t just for big companies

Step 3: How to create “job embeddedness” and why it’s the secret to
cult-like employee loyalty, PLUS …

Step 4: How to “Rig” your hiring process to attract loyal employees:

• Why you shouldn’t overthink whether to hire this type of candidate (The answer is “DON’T”)
• The anomaly you should be on the lookout for in resumes
• How to determine if the candidate will have chemistry with your current team)
• Why you shouldn’t ask “polarized” interview questions
• Make sure you ask a candidate to repeat what you’ve told them about company culture – then listen for how they replay it back to you (watch out for this red flag))
• What never to do during interviews (far too many managers make this mistake)

You’ll also find out the trap hiring managers fall into that leads to a revolving door of high turnover.

As you can see from the chart above, managers and employees are not aligned on what causes turnover.

Step 5: Eliminating the 12 most common, and fixable, causes for unwanted turnover

Here are the 5 most overlooked reasons:

• Lack of training & development
• Lack of mentorship
• Lack of fun
• Lack of recognition
• Lack of caring

“The Employee Turnover Cure” – walks you through each of these 5, plus the other seven reasons people quit – and gives you practical solutions to address them.

But what about when an employee does inevitably leave?

Despite your best efforts, you will lose good employees. What’s important is how you handle the resignation. Specifically …

How do you prevent a departing employee from poisoning the well on their way out or existing employees feeling like they are on a sinking ship they should also jump off of, too?

Step 6: How to deal with turnover when it does happen. You’ll learn:

• Should you let people serve out their notice? Pros and cons to make the right decision in your specific situation
• How to communicate a departure that prevents fallout and maintain employee morale and motivation (it’s critical how you control the message, this section will walk you through it)
• Do you – or your employees – celebrate departures? (If you do, get ready for more people to follow)
• How to turn an unfortunate departure into a positive opportunity that builds loyalty with the remaining staff
• The only scenario you should consider a counter-offer
• The best way to use exit interview post mortems to pinpoint how to improve your hiring process, interview questions and candidate response interpretation

Chapter Three

10 Employee Retention Case Studies To Inspire and Inform Your Strategy

Retention boosting ideas senior management can adapt for company-wide employee loyalty programs

1. How a janitorial firm in Cincinnati came up with a creative way to offer low cost perks that helped them grow from 10 employees to 300
2. How a major supermarket chain’s counterintuitive philosophy results in an overall turnover rate of 17% – and just 4% for full-timers – compared to industry averages reaching 40%
3. How this healthcare company got 5,100 applicants for 160 openings even though they pay 5%-7% less than competing organizations
4. How a Delaware manufacturer garners near perfect employee retention by calling their employees “associates” and outlining these four guiding principles they live by
5. How this bank incorporates volunteering into its’ culture to build community and goodwill that employees love
6. How this bank’s Leadership Development Program measurably increased employee retention from 31% to 76% – and dispels the myth that investments in training drives people to elsewhere to profit from their newly found skills
7. How a California engineering firm created a learning and cross-training culture that gets departments to “play well” together
8. How a food giant and major tech company made the Fortune “Top 100 best Companies to Work For” list by keeping their voluntary employee turnover rate to 3% of fewer during the 12-month period that was surveyed
9. How this Chicago-based marketing company uses fun, non-traditional perks and culture-focused job ads to attract employees that want to be lifers.
10. How an online retailer in Wisconsin create a “no miss” work/life balance policy that to rapidly attract and retain new employees

Chapter Four

The 10 Core Reasons Employees Stay With Their Company

Employee retention boils down to: figuring out what people want, and giving it to them – or allowing them to earn it.

And great employee loyalty – the type of retention that wraps a force field around your people, making them impervious to outside advances – only comes when your folks have a lot of good reasons to stay where they are.

That means you need to pile layer, after layer, after layer of “benefits” on your employees. This is the reality. Good people are extremely valuable to a company, but difficult and expensive to attract. Making nearly any and all efforts to retain them – worth it.

The good news: managers have tremendous control over this. And as demonstrated in the chart above – most of what good employees want – won’t cost you a dime.

This section of the Blueprint covers the obvious reasons employees stay, for example:

• Competitive pay,
• Promotion opportunities, and
• Regular appreciation

… as well as several ignored, forgotten and undervalued reason good employees happily come to work day in and day out.

These are the things companies and managers can give to employees at little to no direct monetary costs. But you need to know what they are, how to deliver them – and give consistent effort.

Chapter 4, the final section of “The Employee Retention Cure” will help you with that.

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