Keep employees happy and keep them, period

The premium that employers have placed on retention reflects the high cost of turnover: Experts estimate it can cost as much as twice an employee’s salary to recruit, hire and train a new worker.

And close friends often follow one another out the door. According to John J. Sullivan, a professor of management at San Francisco State University who specializes in human resource issues, when one person leaves, several often follow suit. “So it’s not replacing one person, it’s replacing three to five,” he said.

But the current obsession among employers is worker engagement. Employees are engaged, experts say, when they feel productive, think they are contributing to their company’s mission, have trust and confidence in their managers and are given the opportunity to grow and advance — not necessarily by climbing the corporate ladder, but by learning new skills.

Via The New York Times

Unscheduled Absenteeism Is Expensive

According to workforce solution company Circadian, unscheduled absenteeism costs roughly $3,600 per year for each hourly worker and $2,650 each year for salaried employees. The costs can be attributed to many factors including:

  • Wages paid to absent employees
  • High-cost replacement workers (overtime pay for other employees and/or temporary workers)
  • Administrative costs of managing absenteeism
  • Other indirect costs and effects of absenteeism include:
  • Poor quality of goods/services resulting from overtime fatigue or understaffing
  • Reduced productivity
  • Excess manager time (dealing with discipline and finding suitable employee replacements)
  • Safety issues (inadequately trained employees filling in for others, rushing to catch up after arriving as a replacement, etc)

Via Forbes

Research Shows…

9 of the 12 workplace elements consistently predict turnover across business units, regardless of an organization’s size. These elements are: having clear expectations, having the materials and equipment to do the job right, having the opportunity to do what you do best every day, the belief that someone at work cares, the belief that someone encourages your development, a sense that your opinions count, the mission or purpose of the company making you feel that your job is important, a belief that your coworkers are committed to quality, and having opportunities to learn and grow at work. If these needs are met, as shown by higher scores on these employee engagement items, turnover is likely to be low. If not, keeping people may be the hardest part of a manager’s job.

Via Gallop