Angel Waterfield, MHR, SHRM-SCP

Director of Human Resources

Charleston Animal Society
843-329-1561
[email protected]
 What is Retention?

 Employee retention refers to the ability of an
organization to retain its key employees. (Reduce
Turnover)

 When do you think most leaders ask questions like,

“What can I do to keep you?”
 “You can’t expect people to be committed, to be loyal to
an organization, to be engaged in an organization, [or]
to want to stay in an organization if the organization
doesn’t care about them.”
-David Sirota

“Customers will never love an organization, until the

employees love it first”
-Simon Sinek
 So why do employees
leave their jobs?

1. Relationship with boss
2. Bored and unchallenged by the work itself
3. Relationships with coworkers​
4. Opportunities to use skills and abilities
5. Contribution of work to the organization’s
mission
6. Autonomy and independence
7. Meaningfulness of job
8. Organization’s financial stability
9. Overall corporate culture
10. Management’s recognition of employee job performance
https://www.thebalance.com/top-reasons-why-employees-quit-their-job-1918985
 What group is most
vulnerable?

 Your risk of losing talent is highest in the first
three to six months on the job

 Too often we choose the right people but fail to

support them as they assume their new roles

 Orientation (on-boarding) as well as on-going

support are key pieces of success in tenured
employees
 Why is Retention so
Important?

Wow! It costs a lot of money!
(2X the salary for a key role or for a platinum employee
it could be 5X the salary)

For a $15.00/hour employee

Turnover cost:
Key Employee: $62,400
Platinum Employee: $156,000
These are donor $$ or tax $$ in many cases
 Turnover Costs
Run the numbers!

 Newspaper/Internet Ads  Overtime costs
 Search firms  Orientation and training
for replacement
 Interview costs
 Lower Efficiencies
 Larger salaries
 Lost customers
 Moving allowances
 Lost Contracts
 Employee’s lost
productivity prior to  Lost Business
leaving  Lower
 Work put on hold while morale/productivity
replacement is found  Loss of other employees
 Overload current team (they follow each other!)
 These are
hard times!

Unemployment in Chattanooga = 3.9%
Charleston, SC it is at a historic low of 2.8%
Nationally it sits at: 4.3%
Competitors are poaching your talent!
At least 1 out of every 3 of your employees
plans on leaving within the next 2 years
Why do employees want to stay?
Top 13 Reasons

 Exciting, challenging, or meaningful work
 Supportive management/Good boss
 Being recognized, valued, and respected
 Career Growth, learning, and development
 Flexible work environment
 Fair pay
 Job location
 Job security and stability
 Pride in the organization, its mission
 Working with great co-workers/clients
 Fun, enjoyable work environment
 Good Benefits
 Loyalty and commitment to co-workers or boss
A little word about Pay

 Pay wasn’t in the top 5 of
our previous list!
 While pay can be a huge
issue if inadequate, even
fair pay won’t keep
people who are unhappy
in other key areas.
 Even a big paycheck
won’t keep them for long.
 What factors can YOU
influence that make
people stay?
What do these employees want?!

 Basically, they want to be heard. They want a voice.
 When people are in charge of building something in
a team, they are way more invested in the outcomes.
 Employee Engagement

 An "engaged employee" is defined as one who is fully absorbed
by and enthusiastic about their work and takes positive action
to further the organization’s reputation and interests.
How do you know if your employees
are highly engaged/or NOT?

 Talk to them!
 Assure subordinates that they are free to express their
opinions without fear of negative repercussions.
 Consider seeking the services of a third party to survey
staff. (Employment Engagement Surveys)
 Be prepared to share the survey findings and a plan of
action with the team.
 If you can determine why employees are not happy, it’s likely
you can prevent them from leaving by changing practices,
culture, and sometimes even your management style.
 Stay Interviews

 What might keep you here?
 What might entice you away?
 What would drive you out?
 What is most energizing about your work?
 Are we fully utilizing your talents?
 What is inhibiting your success?
 What can I do differently to best assist you?
 **If you won the lottery and resigned, what would
you miss most about your job?
 Dare to ask!

 What if:
 You can’t give them what they want?
 Restate how much you value them
 Tell the truth about the obstacles you face in
granting the request
 Show them you care enough to look into
it/You are willing to stick up for them and you
hear them
 Ask, “what else?”
 Who’s really in charge of Engaging
and Retaining your best people?

 Don’t pass the buck.
 That’s right. It’s you – at whatever
managerial level you are at. Most
of these factors that drive
engagement are within your control
 Most managers will blame this on
$$Money$$
 “75% of voluntary turnover can be
influenced by managers.” - Gallup
 You don’t carry this burden alone
(CEO/HR)
 The employee has a role as well!
 Are you helping build their
future or are you in the way?

5 Steps to build your talent pipeline:
Know their talents
Offer your perspective (Honest)
Discuss trends
Discover multiple options
Co-design an action plan
Job Enrichment
(Not Job Enlargement)

 This is a change in what
employees do (content) or
how they do it (process)
which inevitably involves
learning.

 Provides growth, challenge,

and renewal

 If possible, involve
employees in some decision
making
 Hire:
It’s got to be the right FIT!

 Getting the right people on the bus
 Fit = the skills/interest that match the job
requirements and core values consistent with the
organization and team.
 Manager’s should have the final decision, but
include others in the interviewing process
 Hire for “attitude and train for skill”
 (Hungry, Humble, Smart)
 Avoid “Desperation Hiring”
(the mirror test)
 More about Hiring

 Be super honest about what the new hire will
encounter. Don’t sugar coat anything to get them in
the door.
 Talk about your organization and culture – be proud
but realistic
 Ask broad – open ended questions to get the
candidate talking as much as possible
 The best managers are always
Recruiting
never take down that help wanted sign
 Don’t be a Jerk

 Intimidate  Steal credit
 Condescend  Block career moves
 Arrogant  Distrust
 Slam doors and tables  Favoritism
 Swear  Embarrass
 Rude  Never accept blame
 Belittle others  Gossip
 Micromanage  Fail to listen
 Always give negative  Retaliate
feedback  Have “sloppy”
moods
 Yell
 Show disrespect
 Tell lies
 Act superior
 Is your workplace a Fun-
Free-Zone?

 Management regarding personal days at
work: Each employee will receive 104
days a year.
 They are called Saturdays and Sundays
(Or your respective 2 days off each
week).
 Humorize, and you humanize your
workplace
 It doesn’t have to be planned,
unprofessional, or cost a lot of money –
if any!
 Is your organization easy
to leave?

 It’s easy to leave a workplace:
 Where you feel no connection
 Have no support group of colleagues
 If you can’t move ideas through the pipeline
 Not having relationships to help get your
work done
 You don’t look forward to seeing your co-
workers
 You don’t feel proud of or don’t understand
the organization’s mission and purpose
 Being a Mentor
What are they learning from you?

 People with mentors are twice as likely to stay
 They won’t just stay longer, they will produce more
 M – Model (walk the walk)
 E – Encourage (Cheer them on in all times)
 N – Nurture (Care about them)
 T – Teach (Tell it like it is)
 O – Organizational (Avoid mind fields)
 R – Reality
 Question the Rules

 Which would you rather keep? – the rules or the
people?
 Instead of asking “why?” ask “why not?”
 Recognition
Which matters more - Praise or Pay?

You need to pay competitively, but money alone is not a major motivator (most of
these are free!)
(Do these things spontaneously, specifically, purposefully, privately, publically, and
in writing)
 Awards – given in front of peers
 Thank you card from the boss
 Pats on the back
 A day off (Even unpaid is okay!)
 Words of praise
 Lunch with the boss
 Change in title
 Training/Freedom/Autonomy
 Food of any kind almost always works (Humans, Dogs, Cats – Same!)
 Telling the Truth
How often are you giving feedback?

 Studies show that employees are yearning for
straight talk. They want to hear the truth.

 When truth is missing, they feel demoralized, less

confident, and ultimately will be less loyal.

 Consider the truth as a “gift” and know you can

always tell the “truth with grace”.
A little Word on Telling
the Truth

 Gen Y
Millennials

 How to keep them:

 Exercise their intellectual curiosity and work them in

teams. They respond well to additional PTO

 Keep them plugged into technology

 Give regular honest feedback; they want more than an

annual performance review
 Gen X

 How to keep them:

 Keep them challenged, learning,

and progressing. Help them
develop new skills and identify
career opportunities within your
organization

 Communicate and keep them in the

loop. Communicate early,
honestly, and often. Email is a
favorite of this group. This group
needs space and work/life balance
Baby Boomers

 How to keep them:

 Help them find meaningful

work. Keep them on the
cutting edge and teach
them.

 Reward them for

dedication and
commitment
 Sustaining your commitment to
engagement!

 Check your REI? (The
Retention/Engagement Index)
 Create your to-do lists
 Take time to try the action or behavior
 Get feedback – How’s it going?
 Choose again: How’s that working
for you?
 Get help – you don’t have to do it
alone!
 Hold yourself accountable
Questions?

 Thank You!

Angel Waterfield, MHR, SHRM-SCP

Director of Human Resources

Charleston Animal Society
843-329-1561
[email protected]

Acknowledgements:

Beverley Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans, Love’em or Lose’em, 5th ed. (San Francisco, 2014)