Employee Retention: Minimizing Employee Turnover

One of the best ways to lower employee turnover is to improve employee retention efforts and those elements of the workplace that directly improve employee engagement.

While there are many factors that contribute to employee retention, retention ultimately hinges on employee satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. Employees should feel recognized for their hard work, rewarded for their efforts, and respected by the club. They should also feel that the club, as their employer, is meeting their basic needs in terms of compensation, a path for career advancement, and job security.

To help implement a comprehensive retention plan, the club should determine the reasons why employees choose to leave the club and implement programs to address those motivating factors.

Factors in Employee Turnover

In recent years, there have been several studies on declining employee loyalty and the factors that contribute to employee turnover. According to Metlife’s 10th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, employee loyalty reached a seven-year low in 2012, as fears over benefit reductions and job insecurity damaged employee’s relationships with their employers. One in three employees hoped to work for a different employer in 2012—and that figure jumped to almost one in two when looking at members of Generation Y.

Pullout: Top Job-Related Reasons for Voluntarily Changing Jobs

Source: gallup.com

When attempting to evaluate the main causes of employee turnover at your club, employee exit interviews are of paramount importance. Asking employees why they decided to leave the club’s employ can help identify the areas that need to be addressed in order to reduce turnover. Determining whether employees are dissatisfied with one particular aspect of their employment at the club can also help mitigate the circumstances that may motivate employees to leave the club. Employee satisfaction surveys can also help to pinpoint employee issues that can be addressed before they lead to defection.

Developing and Implementing Retention Programs

Strategic retention drivers are intrinsically linked with employee engagement, satisfaction and loyalty. That being said, there are several job elements and areas of employee benefits that are particularly important to reinforcing employee loyalty.

Pullout Graph or chart: Employee Loyalty Drivers

Source: Metlife’s 10^th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, May 2012

Competitive compensation and benefit packages, active employee recognition, engaged management, mentoring for employee growth and development, and opportunities for advancement, as well as careful attention to employee integration into the club culture and workplace, all play key roles in employee satisfaction and engagement.

According to workforce.com, the top five organizationally motivated drivers of employee engagement are:

1. Senior management is sincerely interested in their employees’ happiness, well-being and success
2. Social responsibility within the organization
3. Careful attention to and resolution of employee and customer concerns
4. Plentiful opportunities for career advancement
5. Encouragement of employee contributions and innovative thinking

The top five employee-motivated drivers of engagement are:

1. Tangible improvements in skills and abilities
2. Input into department decisions
3. High personal standards
4. Challenging work assignments that help broaden skills
5. Strong relationships with supervisors

High levels of employee engagement result in high levels of job satisfaction, which in turn increases levels employee loyalty. When employees are loyal to the clubs for which they work, they are far less likely to look for greener pastures elsewhere.

Jackie Abrams is NCA’s communications manager.