Retention Resources

Increase employee loyalty and retain talent.

Retain Right

Studies have shown that the single leading cause for turnover - up to a striking 85% in American corporations, and from fast food service through the Fortune 500 - is behavioral incompatibility. Behavioral incompatibility means the inability of workers, co-workers, management and co-management to understand and overcome differences in their behavioral styles. Behavioral styles have to do with ways of communicating, expressing themselves, working together or alone, understanding what work environment is truly effective for them, and how to balance and adjust for these considerations.

Did you know that by taking a look at differences between the behavioral work style and home style you will be able to predict very specific problems that might lead an employee to seek another job? Most people adjust their style at work based on perceptions of what is needed for them to survive and thrive. We have found that many employees cause themselves unneccesary stress simply because they misunderstood what was really needed to succeed in their position. Depending on the job and the area of adjustment, the person's natural style might actually be an asset! Then, there are cases where the personality for success in the job itself is incompatible with the style of the person. For instance, a person who really prefers a steady work pace and concentrates best on one thing at a time will feel overwhelmed in a multi-taking, fast-paced position, and a person who likes to tackle many creative projects at once will be unhappy in a job that requires careful attention to detailed and unvarying procedures. Oftentimes, a simple adjustment in the work environment or job description will re-engage your key talent at a much higher level.

86% of workers are experiencing job stress, and half of them describe their stress as "extreme fatigue" or "feeling out of control." Stressful work relationships and job demands in turn contribute to other problems such as burnout, errors on the job, emotional and physical distortions of perception, and safety problems and accidents. Ultimately, this results in lowered productivity and increased turnover.

Job-related stress directly contributes to absenteeism and presenteeism.

• The number of employees calling in sick from stress-related factors has tripled since 1996.
• Presenteeism - the phenomenon of employees who show up to work but for a variety of reasons are not producing as they should - accounts for 80% of lost productivity, according to American Productivity Audit.
• The U.S. Employee Engagement Index claims that 17% of employees are actively disengaged from their job. They don't see the link between their performance and company profitability. Actively disengaged workers are costing US businesses $300 billion a year in productivity losses. These workers are not just unhappy but actively undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish.
• 54% of workers are "not engaged" - going on autopilot - and only 29% are truly engaged.

If you want to know how your company stacks up, consider a Culture Vitality Survey. The overall cultural vitality of the company is not only a predictor of turnover, but also a means of confronting and overcoming its causes. Quite often anyone who is in management, in any setting, senses that things are not running well. It is easy to sit back and do nothing, pretending that everything is okay, or to think, "If I do nothing, things will work out." This is a dangerous and sometimes fatal mistake for the well-being of a company. You can revitalize and excite a workforce with a simple survey that gives them a forum to share their ideas about what you could do better (much better) and what needs to change. Surveying is the only way to know what's happening individually, overall, and over time. You can't know if you're winning or losing if you're not keeping track.

The survey will give you a current snapshot of your company's vitality, giving you feedback regarding perceived job attractiveness, vitality trends and current vitality, dealings with external customers and investors, productivity, teams and other workgroups, and vital behaviors. Trend reports can follow the resulting feedback over time. This is sometimes viewed as "BAD News," but it is vital information if you are interested in keeping your key people and improving results. The real questions you have to ask yourself are do you really want to hear the bad news and are you ready to do something about it? This can be an eye-opening experience that will change the course and success of your company forever.