Both the military

and corporate America has a problem-they have trouble keeping their people

from leaving and taking jobs elsewhere. With unemployment down to 4.2

percent, military people have much greater latitude in choosing who they

want to work for.

Those workplaces

that adjust to these changes are going to turn the tide on turnover and

retention. I have worked with and studied hundreds of civilian and military

organizations.

I combined

the best the military had to offer and the best of the corporate world

and created a strategy on how to create a high-retention workforce. Here

are a few ideas to consider.

· Loyalty

has changed.

First, we must

first accept the fact that the concept of "loyalty" has changed.

In the "old" days loyalty meant lifelong commitment to the organization-no

matter what.

Instead of

blind loyalty to the organization, people view their loyalty as transferableportable.

As long as the person feels the organization is providing for their needs

loyalty remains.

·Make

people feel appreciated.

I just completed

a workforce retention survey where I asked the question, What causes you

the greatest dissatisfaction at work? The answer with the most responses

was Lack of appreciation.

Most award

programs don't go far enough. Find creative ways to make people feel goodfocus

on the soft stuff. Many organizations use something called, "peer

recognition." Peer recognition allows people to reward each other

for doing a good job. It works because employees are in the best position

to catch people doing the right things. It is a form of instant gratification

that fills the gap of most formal recognition programs.

· Measure

attitudes. In the military we always had "gripe sessions," but

high-retention workplaces go beyond mere gripe sessions. High-retention

workplaces are now using climate assessment surveys to measure the attitudes

and feeling of their workforce. Every organization should conduct some

form of climate assessment twice a year.

· Money

& benefits only go so far.

My survey

shows that challenging job assignments ranked higher than salary when

asked, What are the reasons you stay at your present job? You may feel

you can't compete with corporate pay and benefits, but a good retention

program must focus on other issues.

TD Industries

in Dallas, Tex., makes their employees feel valued by using one wall in

the company to place photographs of all employees who have been with the

company more than five years. They make everyone feel equal including

no reserved parking spaces for executives. Maybe that's why TD Industries

was listed last year by Fortune magazine as one of the Top 100 Best Companies.

· Taking

care of the family.

I know one

small company that gives employee's children a $50 Savings Bond twice-a-year

who get straight "A's on their report cards. Another survey of 1,000

companies showed half of them let workers stay home with mildly ill children

without using vacation or sick days.

Two-thirds

permit flextime defined as allowing employees to adjust work hours on

a daily basis. Fortyfour percent hold supervisors directly accountable

for sensitivity to their employee's work/family needs.

· Leadership

skills changing.

Many organizations

do a great job training leaders; however, leadership skills are different

today. There is a saying that is going around, "People don't quit

their organization. . .they quit their boss." Many organizations

are going away from traditional performance evaluations and now using

a 360-degree evaluation where 5-6 people can provide objective feedback

on the boss's performance and ability to lead others in today's different

work environment.

"We've

never done it that way before"- What is the difference between a

"tradition" and a bad habit? High-retention organizations must

question their rules, regulations, culture and traditions to insure they

are inline with high-retention.

The CEO of

Trilogy, a computer software company in Austin, TX changed his thinking

when he decided to give up his executive corner office to one of his top

programmers.

The CEO took

a cubicle to avoid losing his programmer to the competition. I don't see

this happening in many organizations, but the point is that all of us

need to make some readjustments in order to turn the tide on retention.

The corporate

CEO and business owner has a tougher job balancing the needs of the mission

and with the needs of the individual. Those who make adjustments are going

to be more successful and competitive in this new economic environment

we are now facing.

The compete

Workforce Retention Survey is available on at https://www.chartcourse.com/retentionsurvey.html

Greg Smith

is the President of Chart Your Course International, a management development

firm located in Conyers, GA. He is the author of four books including,

Here Today Here Tomorrow: How to Transform Your Workplace from High Turnover

to High Retention and The New Leader: Bringing Creativity and Innovation

to the Workplace. He conducts retention seminars for mangers. He can be

reached at 770-860-9464 or by e-mail [email protected].

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