Situation: A company is losing employees. Not the top ones, but the 2nd level. It’s not a manner of money but other reasons. Some don’t like the developing culture of accountability. Others are younger high potential employees who have performed well but have left for unexplained reasons. How do you recruit and retain the best people?
Advice from the CEOs:
- It’s important to learn why they are leaving.
- It may be a millennial phenomenon – this group may regard work as a transitory necessity.
- Determine whether it because of accountability or other reasons.
- Could they be unhappy with the level of growth opportunity?
- Previous generations were used to moving to move up – are the younger employees less prone to do this?
- Could younger workers see work as a job, whereas previous generations saw work as their livelihood – as their life.
- What options could be tried?
- Set up a hiring plan – over-hire to assure availability of talent – 15 people in the next 3 months.
- During the hiring process employ a focused interview diagnostic to identify the key factors that will boost in employee retention.
- One CEO has suggested an approach:
- Start with a volunteer employee focus group that holds a series of meetings over lunch.
- Use company channels to ask for volunteers.
- Allow the group to relax and open-up over time. Then begin to drill down to the real issues, including legacy issues.
- Use feedback from the focus group meetings to design a survey to establish metrics, validate the findings of the focus group, and establish benchmarks for long-term attitude monitoring.
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