Managers: Have A Problem With Valuable Employees Leaving Your Company?

If So, Your Organization’s Culture May Need To Be A Lil More C.O.U.R.T.E.O.U.S!

“Hey managers, have you ever wondered why your most valuable employees leave your company with little or no warning? You may have offered them very competitive wages and benefits such as vacation and sick pay, healthcare coverage, tuition reimbursement, stock options, and other types of benefits to retain top talent. Although these benefits are fabulous, they may do very little to prevent turnover.”

Turnover is Problematic and Costly!

Turnover is very costly because it negatively impacts the profitability of an organization. Think about the costs involved with losing employees. These costs may entail separation costs such as payment of vacation time and stock options to the departed employees, replacement costs such as time used to interview new talent, training, and new employee orientation. Other costs associated with turnover are payment to hiring agencies for discovering new talent. What is more, turnover could also indirectly impact the profitability of the organization. As talented employees leave the organization, productivity will decline, moral may drop, skills and networks are lost, and customer service suffers. Researchers have estimated that turnover can cost a firm millions of dollars each year!

What Causes Turnover

Many senior leaders may believe that the employees’ pay is the number one reason why their human capital leave. Do not get me wrong, the lack of pay is a reason why employees leave but money is not the key reason. According to research, the main reason why employees leave their job is because they have negative viewpoints of their work environment. The work environment consists of the employees’ workload, community, control, reward, fairness, and values. Workload is the amount of work that an employee can handle in a given amount of time. Community is how employees get along with their managers and fellow co-workers. Control is the ability to provide input toward company initiatives. Reward in this regard is not only the monetary rewards but also the intrinsic rewards such as appreciation and the opportunity to learn new skills. Fairness is justice and equality on the job and values are principles that employees’ holds to be true such as love, respect, and trust. A negative perception of any of these areas of the work environment increases the likelihood for individuals to leave your company.

Being C.O.U.R.T.E.O.U.S

Building and cultivating an engaging work environment is essential for reducing turnover. Moreover, an engaging work environment that is conducive for employees to excel may help your company gain the competitive advantage. Employees are more creative and willing to go the extra mile if they believe they work in a positive atmosphere. In an effort to reduce turnover and increase engagement, I recommend that companies make use of the C.O.U.R.T.E.O.U.S model. This model identifies nine cost-effective drivers that may meet the intrinsic needs of your employees while helping to create a work environment that is conducive for your employees to excel. These drivers are as follows:

C- Compassion. Managers should show compassion toward their employees by meeting their employees’ needs especially during a time of hardship.

O- Open Communication. Managers should be approachable and actively listen to the needs of their employees.

U- Unity. Managers should promote unity within the organization and encourage collaboration and harmony with other departments.

R- Recognition. Managers should recognize employees for above and beyond efforts.

T- Transparency. Managers should be honest with employees, willing to share company information, and willing to share the organization’s vision with their employees.

E- Empowerment. Managers should give their employees authority to make decisions that will help the company achieve its goals.

O- Opportunity to Learn and Grow. Managers should allow employees to learn new skills and grow within the company so that employees will not feel stagnated.

U- Understanding. Managers should have a global mindset by striving to understand their employees’ cultural differences and the characteristics of each age generation within the company.

S- Sustainable Workload. Managers should provide their employees with the proper resources and sufficient time so that their employees can effectively carry out their job duties.