Dear Love: Retention
As a measurement for: how much people what to stick around with you as an employer, or a leader. Of your ability to engage people in your organization’s mission. Could also be a big clue in how long it takes for people to quit you. In other words: for them to stop trusting you to the point another alternative is better than continuing to work for you. Ouch! It’s not always all love.
See, we all take a job with some kind of hope. According to my research - I’m a scholar now y’all! - most of us go to work to find our purpose (McKinsey, 2021).
And it’s no wonder that when we get there, and we find out that we aren’t hitting to that target, that bliss we expected to find in this new beginning, we get deflated real quick. And the younger generation, those aspiring leaders we all need in our corporations to keep growing, performing and transforming, they are not sticking around long to find out.
“Where is the love?”
We all feel it though, when we aren’t feeling the love:
We are less productive - Forbes reports this loss costs companies on average 34% of a disengaged employee’s salary. This is easy math.
We stress - the “silent killer”, according to the work of Dr. O’Connor, MD. To me, what that does to our health and longevity is immeasurable. I don’t need no killer thank you. See this Gallup research if you need facts.
We resist collaboration and learning - sabotaging the roots of trust building (tool: Edelman Trust Barometer) and impacting our ability to deliver memorable experiences across the board. Side note: I’ll write more about this later; for a short hypothesis: there is exponential value to capture in the benefit of deep affection-at work.
We succumb to toxicity - we talk about people as opposed to ideas, often resorting to gossip, and we behave in ways that impact everyone’s morale. I don’t think I need deep research to make this point: no one likes a “Debbie Downer”. Also, someone help me with a better gender neutral reference please.
We leave - in my case, you as an employer or a leader breach my trust, I’m outta here. Hope is not my business strategy. Side note: research led me to the Big Stay as a counter to the Great Resignation / Quiet Quitting post-pandemic movement.
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I’m starting with this, here. This moment. The beginning.
With “Firsts”. The first 6 months. The first job. The first moment a-ha moment. The first feeling.
Make me feel like I want to stay here. Like I want to come back for more than just this check.
And then put it in the context of making the business of feelings, feel like business.
MEASURE IT.
Companies in the 75th percentile achieve a retention rate of 87% - this is Elissa tucker in HR Executive.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, an employee turnover rate of 10% or less when not factoring in dismissals and retirements is the gold standard in retention.
Also interesting from the same Bureau - New Employee Retention noted as a “Critical retention milestone”. Benchmark: 67% stay beyond 6 months. This is a GAP.
THEN GIMME SOME USE CASES.
