Retention

Want real employee feedback? Use a focus group

06/15/2011

Employee focus groups are a good way you can uncover issues affecting productivity and retention. Use the following steps to organize your focus groups without excessive red tape or cost:

What will you decide: keep or drop employee health benefits?

05/20/2011

Most employers are not considering canceling health benefits as a result of the year-old health care reform law, according to two recent surveys. The Affordable Care Act may be politically unpopular, but employers assume that it will be a business fact of life for the foreseeable future.

Walmart finds jobs for military employees on the move

05/13/2011

Walmart employees who also are in the military or are married to military spouses can keep their jobs, even if their service requires them to move to another part of the country. The 9,000-store chain has guaranteed its 2 million employees that it will find a local job for them if the military transfers the family to a new location.

Celebrating small wins helps firm with retention

04/08/2011

It doesn’t hurt that accounting firm Grant Thornton offers flexible work schedules, commuter spending accounts, dependent care and an employee assistance program. But execs there attribute the organization’s culture of long-term retention to what they consider a family-like environment at their branch offices.

Invest in the future: Bring back benefits now

03/16/2011

As the economy strengthens, many productive employees who feel overworked and undercompensated will seek jobs elsewhere. Don’t give your stars an excuse to jump ship. Keep them satisfied by implementing new benefits and reinstating those that you cut during the recession.

SC Johnson employees stick around for 14 years

03/07/2011

The average tenure of an SC Johnson employee is 14 years, a longevity marker the organization attributes to its employee benefits. Employees are offered child care, telecommuting, compressed workweeks, job sharing and fitness facilities.

Shift recruiting, retention priorities to beat ‘talent paradox’

02/17/2011

The challenges facing HR pros who specialize in talent, compensation and benefits are dramatically different today than they were just a year ago. At Deloitte Consulting, we call it “the talent paradox”—the apparent contradiction that occurs when unemployment is still relatively high, yet companies still are seeing significant shortages in critical talent areas.

The 6 biggest retention mistakes … and how to fix them

02/14/2011

With unemployment still floating above 9%, it’s a bit easier to find good employees. But keeping the best people never has been and never will be easy. What can you do to keep them around? A recent Harvard Business Review pointed to these key retention mistakes and solutions to fix them:

How to prevent succession planning from triggering discrimination complaints

02/04/2011

Many companies design succession plans so they can spot the next generation of leaders early and develop current employees to their full potential. If your organization is involved in such a process, step back and look: Does everyone who is tapped for special treatment come from the same race or gender? Or does the chosen group exclude older workers or the disabled?

Chicago employers counter pay cuts with low-cost perks

12/24/2010

Chicago-area employers spent the past few years nixing pay raises, cutting the number of paid holidays and even skimping on pension plans. Yet at the area’s trade associations, turnover was down 11.7% in 2010. Reason: Many of the associations, trying to hang onto good employees, have increased popular alternative benefits.