Stop Blaming the Compensation: Why Good People
Leave and What You Can Do About It
Randy G. Pennington
Employees do not switch jobs for a 50-cent per hour increase. Give yourself a firm slap in the face when you are tempted to rationalize high turnover in your organization with the excuse that today's employees are willing to walk for a small salary increase. It is time to return to reality.
Competitive salary and benefits are mandatory to attract and retain a quality staff. But assuming you have met that requirement, keeping good employees has more to do with how you manage than what you pay.
People want to work in a place where they can succeed and feel that their contribution is appreciated. The absence of this environment often pushes people to explore other opportunities. The following characteristics are common to organizations that keep employees feeling connected.
- A clear focus and direction exists for the business and the individual. Specific goals and expectations linked to a common, compelling vision provide a sense of contribution and focus. Commitment to the job is enhanced when a visible link exists between individual performance and organizational success.
- People receive the time, tools, and training to accomplish their jobs. The need to do more with less does not mean do everything with nothing. Frustration develops when barriers are consistently erected that make success on the job impossible. An investment in tools and training reinforces the idea that you want the business to succeed. Providing adequate time to accomplish the task sends the message that quality is important.
- Efforts are recognized and appreciated. The best performers usually maintain excellence without recognition. They are internally motivated and hold themselves to a high standard. Sincere recognition to the stars ensures that they don't look for a better environment in which to utilize their talents. Poor performers can be motivated by the realization that managers are willing to recognize their value rather than only look for the negative. The majority of employees do a good job each day. They view recognition as verification that their performance matters. A one-percent increase in performance from those who simply meet expectations makes a tremendous difference in the bottom-line.
- Poor performance of others is addressed. Good employees do not want those who are not meeting expectations to be dealt with unfairly. They do, however, grow weary of shouldering more than their share of the performance load. There is no advantage and considerable harm in publicizing your efforts to improve someone's performance. Straightforward, sincere efforts to help people improve will show up through a change in the individuals' behavior.
- Honest mistakes are used as a learning opportunity. Think of the most important lessons you have learned in life. How many of those were the results of an honest mistake? Now think of how honest mistakes are handled in your organization. Environments in which people feel punished for honest mistakes create a culture where mistakes are hidden and communication lines are closed. Most important, the organization loses the opportunity to share valuable knowledge that improves performance and results.
- Specific and accurate feedback is provided in a positive manner. Everyone wants information about how they are doing compared to the expectations for their performance. The best feedback acknowledges effort, points the individual toward success, and encourages personal responsibility.
- People have fun. Environments that promote laughter contribute to higher morale, improved productivity, and lowered on-the-job stress. Having fun is not just playing games or dressing up at Halloween. The ability to be relaxed and enjoy oneself creates passion in the workplace that increases loyalty and creates a bond between team members that decrease the desire to find something better.
What You Can Do
Creating an environment that retains good people begins with changing the focus of supervision. Traditional approaches to managing people assume the supervisor's role is to control the work of others. Supervisors who build loyalty and keep good people see their role as helping employees be successful. Each interaction has that purpose in mind. Here are five things you can begin immediately.
- Show the connection. Ensure that every employee is able to see how their job contributes to the success of team members and the entire operation. Interdependent partnerships create a feeling of ownership that enhances relationships and increases results.
- Remove a barrier every thirty to sixty days. Ask your staff to identify and prioritize the obstacles that prevent their good performance. Commit to removing one barrier every thirty to sixty days until the list has been exhausted. Begin with those that can be accomplished quickly and provide visible results. Utilize staff at all levels to design and implement solutions. It might require you to adapt your schedule, but the improved productivity and service will be worth it. When the list is exhausted, create a new one and renew the effort.
- Make recognition and encouragement a priority. Providing sincere, honest, and specific recognition should be expected from every manager. There is no need to wait for performance that exceeds expectations. Recognition and encouragement are also effective when others have consistently met expectations over time, improved substantially, or plateau despite consistent effort.
- Ensure alignment of systems. Policies and practices that are not consistent with organizational value statements and credos are a leading cause of distrust. Consider an audit of the key human resource systems to determine those that are most out of step with the environment you are creating. Use employees on the audit team to gain the perspective of internal customers. Performance appraisal, disciplinary practices, selection, dispute resolution, and incentive systems are a good place to begin.
- Don't forget the majority. Your staff can be classified in three basic groups. The stars are at one end of the continuum. Those who need to make substantial improvement or leave are at the other. The majority lie somewhere in the middle. They do a good job every day and provide the foundation for your organization's success. Dramatic results can occur with incrementally small improvements within this middle group --- the majority of your employees who determine the ultimate success of your operation.
There will always competitors who seek out quality employees and offer substantial compensation as an incentive to change jobs. There will always be employees who feel compelled to look for other opportunities as their circumstances change. Those situations are usually out of your control. Losing good people because of their dissatisfaction is in everyone's control. Don't blame the compensation package.
*2002 by Pennington Performance Group; Dallas, TX. All rights reserved. This article may be downloaded for personal and professional development. Copies may be shared within an individual organization. All other uses of this material are strictly prohibited without written permission from the author.
Randy Pennington is President of Pennington Performance Group, a consulting firm that helps organizations achieve the results they want without sacrificing the relationships they need. For additional information or comments: contact via telephone at 972/980-9857; e-mail at Randy@penningtongroup.com; or on the World Wide Web at http://www.penningtongroup.com.
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