Employee Retention

 Sandy Chan
 Michael Cornwell
 Matthew Vogel

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Catbert Understands
Employee Retention

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Topics
 Overview: Turnover and Retention
 Truths About Turnover
 How Do We Find Out What Is
Causing Turnover?
 Employee Burnout
 Succession Planning

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Overview
 What causes attrition?
 How can agencies improve retention
rates?
 What retention problems are unique
to the public sector?

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Truths About Turnover
Adapted from Branham, Keeping the People Who Keep You in
Business

 Truth #1:
Turnover
Happens

 So focus on
keeping the best.

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 Truth #2: Some Turnover Is Desirable

 Zero turnover is actually not desirable.

 New employees bring new ideas and keep

things from becoming stagnant.

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Truth #3: Turnover is Costly
 The cost of replacing a lost
employee, including productivity
cost can be between one and two
and a half times the salary of the
job in question.

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Truth #3: Turnover is Costly
Turnover Costs Actual/Estimated Costs

Direct Costs:
Recruitment Advertising................. $______________
Applicant Expenses........................ $______________
Selection Testing........................... $______________
Medical Exam/Screening................. $______________
Background Check......................... $______________

Indirect Costs:
Employment Office Overhead.......... $______________
Orientation Time........................... $______________
Training Time................................ $______________
Reduced Productivity...................... $______________

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Truth #4: Money is Not the Answer
In survey after survey, money ranks
far behind things like:

 Meeting a Challenge

 Using One’s Talents

 Having a Good Manager

 Opportunity for Advancement

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Truth #4:Money is Not the Answer
Agencies focused on retention will find a
way to:

 Show employees that results are valued.

 Recognize important contributions.

 Provide a sense of ownership.

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Truth #5: Reasons Good People
Leave - Management
1. Management demands that one person
do the job of two or more.
2. Management cuts back on
administrative help, making professional
workers take on those tasks.
3. Management puts a freeze on raises and
promotions.
4. Management doesn’t give the rank and
file a sense of ownership.

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Truth #5: Reasons Good People
Leave - Management
5. Management constantly
reorganizes and shuffles things
around.
6. Management doesn’t clarify goals
or decisions.
7. Management shows favoritism for
some employees over others.

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Truth #5: Reasons Good People
Leave - Management
8. Management relocates offices to
another site forcing employees to
resituate their commute.

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Truth #5: The Top Ten
Reasons Good People Leave
9. Management promotes someone
who lacks training or necessary
experience to a supervisory
position.
10. Management creates a structure
that has internal departments
competing against each other
instead of cooperating.
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Truth #6:
Reducing Turnover Takes
Commitment

When senior management is not

committed, organizational policies,
practices, and culture can undermine
retention efforts.

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What Causes Attrition?
 Hire the right people for the right
job.
 XXXXXXXX

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What are the differences between
the public and private sectors?

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Interviewing

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Learning to Stop Attrition
 Climate and Satisfaction Surveys
offer direct feedback from current
employees.

 Exit Interviews offer insight of

employees that have made the
decision to leave.

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The Art of the Exit Interview
 In-depth questions reveal trouble
spots.
 Avoid “top of mind” answers by
following up.
 Ask if there is anything that might
be done to help a good employee
stay.

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Offering Confidentiality
 People leaving a job may not want
to risk burning bridges.

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Interviews vs. Surveys
 People are less likely to give candid
answers in person than in an
anonymous environment like a
survey.

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Asking the Right Questions
 Establishing Expectations:

1. What brought you to this agency?

2. What drew you to this position?

3. What were your expectations from

this job?
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Asking the Right Questions
 Evaluating Management:

1. Did you get the support you

needed from your management?
2. What, if anything, could
management have done to prevent
your leaving?

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Asking the Right Questions
 Job Satisfaction:

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Asking the Right Questions
 Job Satisfaction:
1. What is your primary reason for
leaving?
2. What are you satisfied with?
3. What are you dissatisfied with?
4. Compensation

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Asking the Right Questions
 Open-ended Questions

 Choice (multiple vs. single answer)

 Matrix Questions

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Asking the Right Questions
Demographics:
 Age
 Sex
 Position
 Time-in-Service
 Education
 Next Step in the Career Plan

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Acting on Answers
 Employers need to act on interview
and survey results if they are to be
effective.
 If employees perceive that answers
do not lead to action, they will give
up on the process. (Why go through the
trouble to interview or survey if you’re not going
to do anything with the results?)

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 Burnout In The
Workplace

Sandy Chan
Public Administration 700
December 7, 2006
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 Agenda
 Definition of Burnout
 Background
 Myths
 Why Is Burnout Important?
 Causes
 Signs
 Implications

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 Burnout

Emotional exhaustion, apathy and reduced

personal accomplishment resulting from
prolonged
stress, overwork or intense activity

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 Background
 “Burnout” coined in 1980 by Herbert J.
Freudenberger
 Academic roots in human services
Nursing/Medicine Education Eligibility Work
Law Enforcement Social work
 Academia and private employers are
paying more attention to it as globalization
and technology are changing the
workplace.

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Background
Globalization
 Outsourcing, mergers, layoffs – Same/more
work to do by fewer people
 A service-based economy rather than a
manufacturing-based one – more work based
on building relationships with others
Technology
 E-mail, instant messaging, mobile
communication devices allow for a much more
demanding and fast-paced workplace

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 Myths
 It is a problem and the responsibility of the
individual, not the workplace
 Problems outside of work are interfering with
job performance
 An attitude problem – always complaining but
not taking responsibility for one’s own actions
 A sign of weakness, instability or misfit for the
job

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Myths
 An inevitable--but manageable--part of
working life
 Personal problems call for personal
solutions – get rest, get help or get out
 There’s not much an organization can do
to solve it

But these assumptions fail to take the

problem into context

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 Why Is Burnout
Important?
 Burnout is costly to individuals and the
workplace
 Reduced productivity due to poor morale
 Employee sickness
 Employee backlash in the form of
sabotage or theft
 Potential loss of best employees – those
who care the most tend to burn out first

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Why Is Burnout
Important
 Workers compensation, law suits
 The spending of time and money for
recruiting & training
 Public relations problems & lost
business
 The future of the
company/organization and society

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Wayne State University School of Medicine, 2004
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Causes
 Work overload
 Lack of control over work
 Insufficient Reward
 Breakdown of Community
 Absence of Fairness
 Conflicting Values

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Signs
 Anxiety
 Sleeplessness
 Sickness
 Irritability toward colleagues and
family
 Cynicism
 Depersonalization
 Thoughts of leaving the job

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 Implications
 Not an individual problem – it’s a
workplace problem
 Employees want work that is challenging
and rewarding, but when the environment
is conducive to burnout, employees will be
able to put less and less energy into their
work.
 Show appreciation for work done and
reward accomplishments
 Allow employees flexibility and autonomy
over their work
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Implications
 Ask for employee input about changes or
disturbances before implementing them
 Mentality should be “An ounce of
prevention is a pound of cure” instead of
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
 Resolution will have to constantly evolve
as the workplace evolves, so effective
communication is key.

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45
Planning for the Future:
Succession Planning
Michael Cornwell
PA 700
Fall 2006

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Succession Planning
 “The King is dead. Long live the King!”
 Human resource management strategy
aimed at mitigating organizational loss
incurred by retirements and other forms
of separation through HR forecasting.
 Identifying and grooming candidates for
key positions through career path
development, coaching, and mentoring.
 Also refers to large number of separations
through mass retirement.
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Demographics
 Baby Boomer: 1946 - 1964
29.4% of eligible workforce*
 Generation X: 1965 - 1975
14.2% of eligible workforce
 Generation Y: 1976 - 1999
less than 6.7% of eligible workforce

*2005 Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Demographics

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*Please insert Retirement
 Pencil joke here

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Retirement
 Social Security full retirement age ranges from
65 to 67, depending on year of birth.
 Public Safety occupations often allow
retirement at an earlier age.
• Example: Police and firefighters in SF can retire at age 50.
 Baby Boomers currently ages 42 to 60.
 U.S. life expectancy*:
• Male - 75.02 years
• Female - 80.82 years

*CIA World Fact Book, 2006

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Impact on Public Sector

 Immediate impact on Public Safety occupations (Police,

firefighters), because of earlier retirement ages.
 Healthcare costs continue to rise. Massive retirements will
place strain on pension plans- which typically provide
better healthcare benefits than those found in the private
sector.
 Public health professions may experience significant
increases in caseload size as Baby Boomers’ health
declines.

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Coping with Labor
Shortages
 Women in the workforce
 Immigration
Re-thinking immigrant labor
 Delayed retirement
Incentives to remain in workforce longer
 Reduced pension/benefits packages

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