Employee Retention Strategies (1)

EMPLOYEE
RETENTION
STRATEGIES

6 Employee Retention
Strategies for High
Turnover Industries

www.CDMTechnology.com

CDM TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCTION

Employee An employee retention strategy is
Retention one of those things you don’t realize
Strategies you need until you REALLY need it.
Like when some of your best
employees have left with little more
than the standard two-week notice
for other jobs they were clearly
interviewing for while working for
you. Now you have to figure out how
to cover their workload while going
through the whole process of finding,
hiring, and training new hires to fill
those vacancies.

Once all that is squared away, it will
hit home that it’s better to work at
keeping your top talent than finding
people to replace them, and you’ll
want to get your employee retention
strategies working to keep your top
talent happily working away for you.

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"Everyone talks about
building a relationship
with your customer. I

think you build one
with your employees

first."

- Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice
President at Apple

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CDM TECHNOLOGY

Employee Retention Strategies for
High Turnover Industries

You can’t run a business without employees, and as turnover rates rise, retaining
employees become a crucial component of sustainable success. Whether you’re
running a small business or a large corporation, talented employees are your
greatest asset.

Why You Need Employee Retention
Strategies

Developing employee retention strategies that decrease turnover is a high priority
for businesses who know the true cost of a job vacancy. Hiring can be expensive
and time-consuming, and if you don’t get it right the first time, it’s an even bigger
drain on company resources.
Additionally, every day a position remains empty, there is work that still needs to be
done or reassigned which puts a strain on your other employees while productivity
levels and employee morale drop. These are warning signs that employee retention
will get even harder because when your employees see good people leaving, they
begin to wonder if they should look at leaving as well.

How to calculate turnover rate

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Industries With The Highest Turnover
Rates

Based on analysis of LinkedIn’s database of half-a-billion professionals, the
turnover rate across all industries in 10.9%. The industries with the highest turnover
rates over the last few years are:

Some sectors in the technology industry have turnover rates higher than average,
which is largely driven by the increasing demand for technically skilled workers
and competitive recruiting packages.

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It’s not surprising that it is hardest to hold on to talent in the technology industry
with an ever-increasing demand to fill a rapidly growing market. While
“technology” is a broad term, a detailed look at LinkedIn’s data shows three
specific occupations as having the highest turnover:

1. User Experience and Designer at 23.3%
2. Data Analyst at 21.7%
3. Embedded Software Engineer at 21.7%

These numbers mean the IT industry is seeing double the national average of
employee turnover and suffering more than most industries from the inability to
retain employees.
"There’s good evidence to suggest that the trouble with retaining tech talent
is high-demand and rising compensation within the industry: as employers and
offers get more competitive, top talent is more eager to jump on new opportunities.
The numbers support this theory: according to LinkedIn data, almost half (49%) of
departing tech employees take another job within the tech sector,” states Michael
Booz, Insights Program Manager at LinkedIn.

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Developing Employee Retention
Strategies

Hiring the best employees is just the start; you also need to retain them. To lower
your turnover rate, you need to understand what employees want. The best way to
get that information is to ask them. Communication with your employees is crucial,
both in the information you share and the information you receive.
Survey your employees with anonymous polls regularly to collect insight unique to
your company that will increase employee retention to understand what needs
improvement. When you know what issues are raising your turnover rate, you can
prioritize your employee retention strategies to match the greatest areas of need.

1.Improve the hiring process

When you have the right person in the right job, they are more likely to stay with
your company. To hire the right person, you need a well-defined interview process
that assesses whether a candidate possesses not only the technical skills required
but also the interpersonal skills that align with your company values.
Delight employees from the start with an onboarding process that teaches them
about the job, the company culture, and how they can contribute. Let new hires
know how they can thrive and address any issues that come up.

ALSO READ: Interview Skills for IT Introverts

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2. Implement leadership development programs

The inability to retain qualified candidates who successfully made it through your
interview process has to fall under someone’s responsibility, and it is managers
who are held accountable. You’ll find that people are more likely to talk about how
they can’t stand their manager or supervisor than how they can’t work for a
company as a whole.

Teaching your leaders and managers how to communicate effectively and build
relationships within and with their teams creates an inclusive culture that people
want to stay a part of.

3. Find out how employees feel at regular intervals

Create a culture that encourages, and even rewards employees for their feedback
and participation in opportunities to share their ideas. Conduct an anonymous
survey of your entire staff at least twice a year. Ask some open-ended questions
that encourage employees to give detailed answers about their experience. This is
also a chance to increase organizational transparency by sharing results and
developing a plan that addresses pain points when possible.

Some of your most useful input will come from periodic one-on-one interviews with
performers from every level of your company. You’ll uncover why they perform so
well while gaining insight on what they would improve to make the work
environment better for everyone.

An added benefit to consistently approaching your employees for feedback is they
are more likely to feel heard and seen and included in the process of making
improvements.

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4. Conduct exit interviews

I can give you all kinds of numbers for turnover rates in your industry, in your
market, but blind guessing at why people are leaving your company in particular
isn’t going to give you the information you need to build an employee retention
plan. Exit interviews are the most effective way to get honest information on what
needs to change in your company.

The quickest and easiest way to find out why people are leaving is to ask the
people who are leaving. You can do this in person, by email, or through a
confidential survey, but in some way make this an official part of the off-boarding
process.

You’ll get the most honest answers when people don’t feel their job is at risk. Just
be ready to hear the truth, because knowing exactly where problems lie is the only
way to design an effective solution.

5. Have actionable career discussions with
employees

When you are aware of what your employees want, you can put them on track to
accomplish their goals. The 2018 Workplace Learning Report found that 94% of
employees say they’d stay longer if a company invested in their career.

Find the best way to provide resources and tools for that develop the skills your
employees need to advance their careers and encourage internal mobility both
upward and laterally to align with the goals of both the employee and the company.

When your workforce sees you hiring within, they are more likely to feel that there
will always be a place for them with your company.

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6. Remain competitive with compensation

Some employees will decide to leave a job based solely on salary, but if you remain
competitive in your market for compensation packages, you’ll eliminate one of the
top four reasons people bail. It’s absolutely critical in this competitive labor market
for companies to offer attractive compensation packages. That includes salaries,
bonuses, paid time off, health benefits, retirement plans the other perks that make
working for your company the best option.
Ensure every employee has a full understanding of all the benefits they receive
from your organization during onboarding.

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Why Exit Interviews and
Communication Are Crucial

Employers, managers, VP’s, you name it… they HAVE to stay 5, 6, 7 steps ahead in
the Technology field where turnover is highest when they lose a key contributor.
Hammer that exit interview hard and don’t be afraid to hear things back that are
going to make you feel uncomfortable.

Communicate honestly and openly with your employees after exit interviews and
be transparent about why that person left. Sometimes some circumstances cause
people to change jobs that have nothing to do with their working environment or
employee satisfaction, and if that is the case, it’s beneficial to let the team know.

On the flip side, if a person has left for a reason that could be a concern to other
employees, it is wise to get that out in the open and demonstrate to your
employees that you are aware of and addressing those concerns. Get in front of
the issues so when other people have that “Should I bail too?” moment they are
hearing positive communication and feel that something is being done about
whatever the concern is.

Exit interviews for key contributors in your company are non-negotiable. The loss
of essential personnel has a greater effect on morale and can cause a ripple effect
of wide-spread insecurity when people vacate highly visible positions. When a key
contributor leaves, and it is a mystery as to why you leave the door open for all
types of assumptions that can lead to further retention issues down the road.

Transparency is vital these days! Be vulnerable with your employees; let them
know that sometimes the boss screws up too. You communicate and they are
going to respect you a lot more in the long run.

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Start Employee Retention Efforts by
Understanding Why People Leave

Get in the mind frame of an employee and think about what you’d need to have to
be satisfied in this position, at this company, at this time. Step into different shoes
to get a view of how your company culture, benefits, and management style align
or conflict with the career priorities of your employees. Getting your information
directly from the source gives a better idea of where the disconnects are between
satisfied and loyal employees and the people choosing to leave your company
voluntarily.
As a jump off point for looking at ways your business could begin to address
employee retention, let’s look at a 2015 survey that asked 10,000 professionals
who recently changed jobs why they left. Almost half (45%) of those asked picked
“lack of opportunities for advancement,” and 41% said “unsatisfied with the
leadership of senior management” contributed to them leaving. The other biggest
reasons people left included being unhappy with the work environment (36%), a
desire for more challenging work (36%) and unsatisfied with the
compensation/benefits (36).
Every organization is different, so to assess and understand your unique turnover
and retention influencers, it is absolutely essential to look at your own data from
feedback, surveys, and exit interviews.

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About the Author

Chip Murphy

Chip Murphy is a co-founder of CDM
Technology and has over 19 years in the IT
consulting, contracting, and professional
search service space.

CDM Technology

CDM Technology is a customer-focused,
premier provider of consulting,
contracting and recruiting solutions for
the IT, Digital Marketing, and Project
Management markets.
Each company’s hiring situations is unique – that’s why our use of personalized
hiring solutions and a team-based approach take advantage of opportunities
that your competitors can’t.
With over 30 years combined experience in the San Diego IT market and a broad
network of top clients and candidates, when you tell us what you need, we put
the right type of resource in front of you.

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the partnership that Chip Murphy & Devlin
Millay started building in the early 2000’s. It’s
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trust and integrity they deserve. It’s about
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Whether it's getting hired or finding the right
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