Employee retention is an important measure all companies should be tracking. The cost of turnover can be astronomical – as we figured in this video. But before you can fix retention, you first have to understand why your employees may be looking for career opportunities elsewhere. Once you know why people are leaving, you have a better shot at correcting any shortcomings within the company, thus improving employee job satisfaction, improving retention, AND working your way to becoming a sought after workplace!

Like so many workers leaving their positions during The Great Resignation, I wanted it all. Higher pay, remote work, and a flexible schedule were options my former position in a non-profit couldn't offer, so I accepted a new job I knew had these benefits. But here's the plot twist: After six months in my new role, I'm on the move again. As it turns out, I value a company's culture just as much as I value flexibility. The non-profits I left (after five years) offered an incredible culture that my new job lacked.

Finding positive employee retention strategies that work for your company is a major undertaking this year. It’s critical that business leaders establish the right strategies in place to deter turnover, encourage productivity, and retain top-quality talent. One of the best ways to achieve this is with open-book methodologies. This post will cover six powerful ways to create your retention strategy and how the Great Game™ methodology helps to achieve successful outcomes in this regard. 1. Purpose 2. Leadership 3. Communication 4. Culture 5. Compensation 6. Evaluation

Right now, many businesses are experiencing slowing growth in business activity. Although this may seem like a bad thing, there are still so many positive actions companies can take during this downtime that will pay dividends when business ramps up again. Let’s take a look at some of the ways your business can best take advantage of this period to secure a better future.

Talent is scarce and it’s going to get scarcer in the future. The value of companies will soon be tied to the value of their people. The ones with the best talent strategies will dominate their markets in the coming decade.

Employee-owned businesses have experienced significantly fewer issues with employee retention than their non-employee-owned counterparts. I can’t remember a time in my career when employee retention was talked about more often than it is now. Even personally, I’m one of those Great Resignation statistics. In late 2021, I resigned from my position in local government to take on the role of Executive Director of Missouri Center for Employee Ownership, Inc. (MOCEO). Like many members of the American workforce, the pandemic pushed me to reevaluate my personal and professional priorities. So, when I joined MOCEO, I was very interested to learn what effect employee ownership had on employee retention. So, as soon as my second week of work, I began asking every executive of an employee-owned business I met, how their business model impacted retention. With very few exceptions, the general response was that retention wasn’t a significant issue.

Be Flexible and Constantly Shift Supply chain issues have created lots of shortages. Being flexible and willing to shift constantly provides a way to keep operations flowing. Right Proper Brewing, a brewery and pub in Washington, D.C., remains flexible and shifts when needed.

Did you know turnover can cost a company $94,000 OR MORE? In an example below, Vice President, Steve Baker, applies our Dollar Exercise to the cost of turnover. Losing 9 people at a salary of $50,000 can cost you almost $100,000 and will take $1.4 million dollars in revenue to cover the cost. OUCH.

The pandemic has caused many people to stop and reflect on what really matters to them, resulting in what some have called The Great Resignation or the Great Reshuffle. This has had a huge impact on businesses — now dealing with higher than usual turnover. Recent studies by McKinsey & Company and Gartner show that the majority of employees – especially younger generations — are seeking greater purpose at work. And when they find that greater purpose, they are happier, more productive, more engaged, and more likely to stay. The McKinsey study also found that employees are five times more likely to remain at a company that regularly reflects on its impact on the world.

You’ll experience the labor shortage differently depending on where you’re standing. If you’re a business owner, you might be considering shorter hours, posting signs asking for grace from customers, or redesigning your company culture. But if you’re a nonprofit worker, you might be telling a hungry family: “I’m sorry, we can’t provide food for you tonight." Or a woman escaping domestic violence: “There’s no room in our shelter at this time, we’re at capacity." This is the reality for nonprofits across the nation as they struggle to compete in the war for talent.