Will you attract and retain talent as the skilled workforce shortage approaches? Seventy percent of U.S. intellectual capital is planning a career move – do you know why? Who will stay with you through rough times?

The New York Times article Inside the Minds of Your Employees (Kelley Holland, Jan, 28) points out that in a tight market the communication breakdown between talented workers and employers can have consequences beyond a breakdown of morale.

Some 86 percent of the 262 employers in a study by Watson Wyatt, the consulting firm, said they believed that their organization was treating employees well, and more than half expected to do a better job of treating employees well in the future. But only 55 percent of the 1,100 employees in the study believed they were well treated, and just 24 percent thought they would be treated better in the future.

Employers also appeared to have little sense of why high-performing employees might leave the organization: not one employer said health care benefits would play a role, but 22 percent of the top performers themselves said that those benefits would be important.

Communication is the keystone of employee satisfaction. How can you discover what’s working and also find out the bad news you need to know – ask! Third party, anonymous surveys protect employees.

Anonymous surveys can mend the communication breakdown. For example, a bottom-line question would be to ask “if you would leave this position or company for any reason, what would it be?” Include not only multi-choice, but also some open-ended questions.

Here are some real-life answers our clients discovered:

• 71% of employees would take a comparable job elsewhere.
• “Upper Management is too lenient with employees.”
• “Employees feel used.”
• “My manager often makes me feel inadequate.”
• “The attitude is ‘It’s not my job.’”

With information about what really matters to your employees, you can gain a competitive edge on loyalty and engagement. Add survey trending for accountability on whether your solutions are working.

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