President of Human Asset Management, Jeff Kortes, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his straight talking and idea packed book No Nonsense Retention: Painless Strategies To Retain Your Best People.
Jeff Kortes describes, in no uncertain terms, the problems and realities of the modern workplace that lead to employee turnover,and shares practical advice on how to keep the best employees.
Thanks to Jeff Kortes for his time, and for his informative and comprehensive responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.
What was the background to writing this book No Nonsense Retention: Painless Strategies To Retain Your Best People?
Jeff Kortes: When I was in human resources I had to retain people in some very competitive industries so I learned retention the hard way…through trial and error. When I started my executive search firm I immediately began to hear first-hand from candidates I was attempting to entice out of organizations why they would consider leaving their current organization. This got me researching the entire topic so I could better do my job as a professional recruiter and I quickly decided that a book on the topic would be invaluable for Human Resources professionals, department managers and other people in leadership roles that have responsibility for retaining talent in their organization.
What are some of the leading reasons that good people leave organizations?
Jeff Kortes: The top reasons good people leave their organization are a poor boss, lack of communication, limited growth opportunities and a lack of respect by the organization. The most compelling reason is really their boss. In fact, 75% of the people say the worst thing about their job is their boss! A lousy boss usually means poor retention.
Does the size of the company make a difference regarding retention rates?
Size is not a major issue in retention. Everyone thinks that large organizations are able to retain their people more easily because they have vast resources at their disposal. Size can actually make certain key factors in retention such as communication more difficult and the fact of the matter is that lousy bosses can be found in any size organization! One recent study I saw even indicated that a majority of the millennium generation plans to work for an organization of less than 500 employees so size may not be an advantage with future workers.
What does this employer turnover cost companies in terms of dollars, lost productivity, and additional recruitment and training costs?
Jeff Kortes: Studies by American Management Association and others report a range between 25 percent and 250 percent of annual salary per exiting employee. Beyond the cost, perhaps more importantly, is the fact that as the economy improves and baby boomers retire, there will be a critical shortage of workers to replace them. There will be a shortage of people to work in general. There has always been a significant demand for the top performers. This will intensify in the future due to the impending labor shortage. Retention will become a simple matter of survival. Those organizations that are able to find and retain people will be the only ones that survive simply due to the shortage of talent that will exist.
Jeff Kortes (photo left)
Will giving employees more money result in better retention rates?
Jeff Kortes: Assuming a company is paying below the market rate for a job, money can have a definite impact on retention. If a company is paying competitively, however, money generally ranks as the 4th or lower priority for most employees. Money is rarely the major factor that prompts a person to leave their organization. There are usually other underlying concerns that prompt an employee to begin looking for another job that have nothing to do with money.
How can a company culture be improved to retain more good employees?
Jeff Kortes: First, there has to be a conscious decision to improve the culture of an organization which starts by looking at the core values of the organization. Once those core values are defined an organization can begin to take concrete actions that will support strengthening those core values that support improved retention. A decision to embark on a cultural change initiative is one that requires a long-term strategic commitment but, ultimately, will lead to consistently better retention. This is the optimal way to approach improving retention but is also requires the most commitment.
Should employers be concerned if less valuable employees leave the company?
Jeff Kortes: Some turnover can actually be considered positive for an organization. If a poor performer leaves it creates the opportunity to replace them with a solid performer who will add to the strength of the organization.
How can the best people be hired and retained effectively?
Jeff Kortes: Organizations can find the best people by knowing what characteristics they are looking for and by having a systematic recruiting process. I am also a huge advocate of psychometric testing to assess for the best “fit.” Fit is one of the most important determiners of success in a company. Once a person who fits the organization is found, the organization needs to have a strategic retention process in place that addresses the key elements that are important to employees.
How can an organization create and implement a strategy to retain more of the best employees?
Jeff Kortes: An organization needs to create a strategic retention plan very similar to what they would have for other areas such as quality or marketing. This plan should fit into the overall strategy of the organization. This ensures that there is a coordinated, well thought out approach to retention instead of merely engaging in a series of ad hoc “activities” that the organization decides to try in order to improve retention.
What is the first step an employer should take to make their workplace a desirable place for the best people to work and thrive?
Jeff Kortes: There is no doubt that the most important step to take is to look at the quality of your leadership at all levels of the organization. Unfortunately, 75% of the people in this country say the worst thing about their job is their boss. Most turnover is driven by a poor boss more than any other factor. The organization needs to assess the quality of leadership to ensure they have the proper training and value system that is consistent with the value system of the organization. If a leader does not have a value system that will drive retention, the organization needs to remove that person from a position of leadership or that leader will negatively impact retention.
What is next for Jeff Kortes?
Jeff Kortes: My goal is to grow the leadership training and speaking and side of my business. In the speaking arena, I am focusing on retention, recruitment and how to build a high performance team. With that in mind, I recently developed a new speech titled “Slug proof your organization…a no nonsense approach to building a high performance team” which I will be rolling out in July 2011.
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My book review of No Nonsense Retention: Painless Strategies To Retain Your Best People by Jeff Kortes.
