“Development is still employee driven. But now it is specific and measurable. I can manage the process, and coach an employee through problems.”

--Store Manager, Kinkos
Retention
“Turnover is high for our whole industry. You can’t change that can you?” Yes, improved retention is one of the most common reasons for bringing in Interact. Below are a few of the questions we ask about retention, and some of the answers our customers have given us.
 		  
Interact Questions   Examples from Interact's Experience with Customers

What does turnover look like in your organization?

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•		 About half of our turnover happens within the first six months of hire.


In exit interviews people say they are leaving for better career opportunities and for better compensation.


Turnover issues involving key positions and key competencies.

Voluntary turnover of high performers and people who immediately join our competition.

What business impact does this turnover have? How extensive is it? How costly is it?

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•		 The costs of turnover vary dramatically depending on who is leaving. This information is not hard to collect, and is usually very revealing.

Post-exit interviews get the most honest information-emotions have cooled, and references are no longer needed. Most common reason for leaving: “poor communication with my manager.”

Add up separation costs, vacancy costs, replacement costs, and training costs. For a professional employee this can be 1.5 times his/her salary (Saratoga Institute).

What are some approaches for addressing these issues?

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•		 Organization Design: Create clear career paths. Redesign tedious jobs to incorporate some project as well as repetitive work. Implement cross training to create more generalist and customer-focused positions.

Organizational Systems: Begin benchmarking salary and promotional opportunities. Implement post-exit interviews. Increase the use of work teams and project teams.

Training: Interact’s courses in Performance ManagementTM and Performance Problem SolvingTM have played a key part in improving managers’ effectiveness. We find that peer-to-peer problem solving is especially important.