Retention
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I got a call yesterday from a friend and he was a little down. Someone on his staff quit, a senior developer, and left him in a bit of a bind. He manages a development team of 9 and with a big release needing some bug fixing, he's scrambling for some help. Especially after 2 others leaving this year for various reasons, none of which he could retain.
He's had a rough few weeks, and it got us talking about retention and how to build some loyalty. The whole hiring, retaining, team-building game. It's a tough battle and having been on both sides, I think you have to set your philosophy, build a team, and hope for the best. Just remember you'll strike out sometimes. The best hitters in baseball get hits 33% of the time; maybe that's not such a bad ratio to shoot for in business.
It seems that many managers discount the value of business knowledge, especially knowledge specific to your company, about how it works. Bringing a new developer up to speed can be fairly quick, probably weeks to get them familiar with how to maneuver around the network, find the code, comment it in line with everyone else, get the admin routine down, etc. But it severely discounts the personal relationships your people build with business people and the knowledge of what makes the business run smoother. And more efficient. A $80,000 developer with a few years of experience with your business is often a much better bargain than a $30,000 new hire every two years.
But assuming your people are valuable, how do you retain them? Do you match offers from other companies? Give perks to some people? More vacation? It's a tough battle, especially in a larger company where a particular manager or department doesn't have flexibility.
My friend would seem to have a great place to work. Two weeks vacation off the bat, 3 after a year, 4 after 2. Not many places offer that. They've paid for relocation and worked through H1-Bs, casual work environment, stable business, tools purchased, a training budget that the employee can have some control over. Tons of books and periodicals available and even bonuses paid for achieving certification.
And my friend does team building. Puzzle Fridays sometimes where they spend a 1/2 day competing and challenging each other with puzzles. Days off at the local ballpark or golf course or some other "fun" event. Starbucks runs periodically for the whole team, paid for by the company.
All in all it's a nice setup. Nicer than most of the companies that I've worked for in my career. He's up front and reminds them that if they're not happy, come talk to him. He'll see what he can do to fix things. No promises, but an open up-front managerial style that is something I've appreciated and often had the benefit of working under.
And still he's lost 3 people this year. One to pregnancy, which is unavoidable, but two other more senior developers.
Retaining people is a tough battle. Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's other things, but I've been searching for a good formula that works. Anyone out there have ideas that have worked for them? Or that they've appreciated? Maybe changed their mind?
I'll jot some notes as this sounds like an interesting article, but if you have any ideas, respond in the forums to today's editorial.
Steve Jones
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Retaining people is not just the money, There are something else like apprecaition, trust and resonable fair.
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An issue I've wondered about (after reading up on the subject a while back): counteroffers. If one of your employees is offered a job elsewhere and is seriously considering it, what are your options?
How do you find out that they're leaving? Do you hear via the rumor mill? In which case they don't want to tell you up front, perhaps implying they don't want to talk about it because they consider the fact of their leaving is not up for discussion? Ditto if they tell you only as they leave.
But if they tell you well in advance, what does that mean? Is it time for some kind of hardball negotiations? It seems a bit like, well, not extortion but pretty close; wouldn't this produce unpleasant work tension or resentment, increasing their likelihood to leave some time in the future? Would you as the employer be inclined to trust they're loyalty, etc. as much as you used to? Wouldn't they know or come to realize that?
It seems to me that if someone is willing to *seriously* considering leaving your company, they're as good as gone, later if not sooner. Perhaps the point to ponder isn't how to get them to rescind their outside offers, but how to get them to not even consider them--or at least, not give such offers serious consideration.
So how do you keep workers from wanting to leave? Some quick thoughts:
If you've got a killer work environment (casual dress, puzzle days, Starbucks runs, etc.), that's pretty darn good for day to day... but if the company across town as an equivalent setup, then you're really only keeping up with the (ahem) Jonses.
There's, oh, call it the "pride factor". Are your employees proud or pleased (and not merely content) with what they're doing? If so, they've reason to stick around for the long run. If you pay them premium salaries to do mindless file clerk work, well, (a) you're nuts and (b) I like to think the proverbial most skilled top 10% of your workforce will leave sooner or later to find something worth while to do.
Give them incentives specifically designed to make them want to stay. The obvious (?) thing here are options, vested shares, or stuff like that; if I've got x000 shares coming to me in three years if I'm still here, then I'm likely to still be here--and I'm inspired to do what I can to make those share very valuable. This of course can backfire bigtime--if things go poorly for the bottom line, suddenly all your long-term incentives are worth squat and morale will bottom out. (Note also that stock options may be of dubious merit; in a BIG company individual effort--let alone that of your entire department--might have no serious impact on the bottom line, and stock value is driven more by market perception than actual profit.) But what other valid long-term incentives are there?
Philip
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Hi
I have been a manager/architect for more than 12 years.
I feel there are external factors which you should not even bother controlling like pregrancy, child sick so need more money etc..
The other factors are guys dont get good work , recognition and most importantly they feel that they are NOT BECOMING MORE VALUABLE by the day. So even in BIG companies as a leader you should be able teach the guys new things, throw challenges to them so keep them mentally occupied. Appreciate them generously. Build a good personal rapport so they confide in you and not clam thinking if they tell you they want to quit and retract they will lose promotion or a raise next appraisal cycle.
Money is a factor which cannot be controlled by the leader to a great extent. It is market driven. So dont depend on that too much.
1.Throw challenges.
2. Teach them new things so want to work under you bcoz they know they will improve.
3. Appreciate them generously.
The above should help to a great extent.
Kumaran
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I think it is different things for different people but Kumaran certainly nails it as far as I am concerned.
"they feel that they are NOT BECOMING MORE VALUABLE by the day".
I look beyond my actual role to ask where is my company going, what does that mean for my career. If I see trouble ahead, do I grit it out or jump ship?
Then there are external factors. If the new place is 30 minutes closer to home or nearer to facilities that my family use then there is nothing the company can do about it.
If Steve's friend is perceived by his employees the same as the way that Steve describes him then I wish I worked for him.
In one of my jobs one of the bosses was simply never available. One particular employee tried to speak to him several times and even left post-it notes on his monitor. Eventually she left her resignation letter in his in-tray.
4 weeks later the boss asked where she was and was told that she had resigned AND served her notice. Boy did he hit the roof, especially when someone pointed out that he had it in writing in his in tray. Well if he is looking for sympathy it comes 4 pages in the dictionary after shit!
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Hi,
I'm a consultant in a small BI-consulting company (almost 3 years now).
Sometimes I'm helping with the recruiting, but no team leading stuff or so...
I've been really thinking (hard) about leaving this company in the past year (my company car contract is for 3 years so leave now or have an other 3 year obligation), but not anymore.
What made me change my feeling about this company?
In an evaluation talk with my team leader I expressed my feeling about not getting the project I like and always being pushed to do the same trick over and over again.
The response from my employer was to hook me up with a senior consultant, from a other team (no relation to my team or type of work). This senior is now couching me. When I had a bad they, I go see him and talk about it and he gives feedback. The idea is he will not go tell my supervisor, but that he couches me on how to handle these situations in the future. Every two weeks we sit down for an hour en talk about what I have implemented from his advise.
This is now going on for almost 3 months and is having results. My work hasn’t really changed (some really minor changes have occurred), but my feeling to worth it have.
Maybe this helps (a bit) …
Maarten.
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I think this is a briliant article, thanks for this Steven. It seems to be a problem in the industry at the moment. I recently also read an article entitled "The Fallacy of cheap Developers". Thank you for this article again. I think one of the main problems nowadays is that managers feel that everyone is easily replacable. This is ofcourse not the case. As Steven said, Employees who know the bussiness are priceless.
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For me job satisfaction (and enthusiasm for staying put) is mostly about feeling respect for my knowledge, and some appreciation that I spend considerable personal time keeping myself up to date, as well as continually developing understanding of new areas.
A real downer as a permanent employee is when contractors and consultants are brought in and shown more respect by management than internal people. It's also important to be in a workplace where everyone is respected for knowledge and ability - not simply because of their position in the hierarchy.
Your comment, Steve, about team building makes me think of something else - it's common amongst management to see "team building activities" (often social) as a general staff morale booster. That's fine for those who like that kind of thing or are young and heavily into beer :-), but too often I've seen employees judged badly because they don't join in. No matter that they are very good in the work environment with other people. Often I think employers take this as the easy approach to (hopefully) improving retention. It doesn't work. The real needs of most employees go deeper - with respect being key. See also Ken Henderson's essay "Why I Really, Really Don't Like Fish!" (at the back of "The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals").
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And more efficient. A $80,000 developer with a few years of experience with your business is often a much better bargain than a $30,000 new hire every two years.
But guess what will look better for company's internal cost effectiveness and increase shareholders value in the short-run. Sad, but true
--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
Great editorial and interesting topic Steve!
I now work for a great boss. He has a great boss and, from my view near the bottom of the hill, the next boss up the chain appears to be a great boss as well. This hasn't always been my experience.
I owned and operated a small corporation once (for six years) and now find myself inside corporate America. Ahhh, life in a cube.
I feel somewhat qualified to speak to both sides of the argument.To employees I would offer the following:
1) You work in a field that radically transforms every eighteen months or so. Literally millions of minds are at work every day to create new stuff for you to learn. Challenges abound. I imagine you entered this field because you enjoy some aspect of technology. Technology's chief attribute is change. If you do not like or do not want to roll with the changes, you chose the wrong field.
2) You have some control over your worth to the company. Exercise it. Your company may or may not pay for (or even refund) certification exam fees or education expenses. Feel free to use this as an excuse to not obtain certification or more education if you must, but I've not yet found a good recipe for excuses and I cannot get my utility company to accept them as payment. My point is: Do something to make yourself more valuable. If your current employer doesn't recognize this new worth, perhaps your next employer will.
3) Get over it or move on. Attitudes are contagious. There are few things in life over which you have 100% control, but your attitude and your response to everything life throws at you is one of those few. If you're not happy, have enough intestinal fortitude to make a change - either change yourself or change jobs.
To managers/employers I would offer the following:
1) Please do not confuse fiscal prosperity with managerial success. Just because your company or your department is making money, enjoying positive cash flow, and/or turning a profit is no indication you're doing a good job as a manager.
2) People are not systems - contrary to critical thinking taught in most business schools. If you treat people like systems, they will mimic the behavior of a system - mainly because they are being managed by someone who doesn't know how to treat people like people. Employees are not a) slaves; b) stupid; or c) systems - they're people. Treating them as anything less may produce short-term results, but will always cost you money long-term. Steve is absolutely correct in his comparison of the 80k and 30k employees.
3) Don't be a jerk. You too have 100% control over your attitude every second of every day. That crap may fly at home with your four year-old and soon-to-be-ex-wife, but don't bring it to work with you, ok? You're not your employee's parent - you're their boss. Act like it. Either you hired these folks or someone somewhere believed you are (or were) the best person they could find to manage them. Honor that decision.
[/Screed]
Kicking that soapbox back into the cubicle corner... Andy
Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics
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It's important that after all is said and done, turnover will still happen, and it's not necessarily the fault of management, or lack of sufficient perks.
People have lives. They have goals outside of work, family obligations and dreams. No matter how good a job is people sometimes need to try something different (I know someone who is hanging up his IT shoes to start his own micro-vinyard with a goal of producing his own line of wines)
Treat people well, do what you can to reduce it, but people can and will continue to change jobs.
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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Steve, this is a great topic.
As it's been pointed out, retention works best when both sides are willing to put in the effort. If the employee doesn't want to make an effort to be there, you may as well start recruiting.
Having a track record of flexibility makes a difference. If an employee has a need, make sure they know they can explain that need and the company will try (within reason) to accomodate them (such as a temporary but dramatic shift in work hours, etc). If all a manager says is "I'll see what I can do", then what's the point in asking?
For those of you that are dog owners and have trained your dog, you've got an advantage. Granted, I don't like the analogy comparing employees to dogs, but it was what came to mind.
Each day should be brand new. Employee morale starts to suffer when everything is the same - it's the start of a 'rut'. Vary the norm. If there are no client meetings, arbitrarily pick a day for casual dress and send a memo out the afternoon before. Make room in project schedules (if at all possible) to squeeze in a few hours of fun every few months. Vary it, take suggestions, and make sure that you see each employee smile at least once each day (a real smile). If people know they're going to be happy at least once during the day, they'll want to be there (and stay there) more.As far as the situation described in the editorial, there isn't much I could suggest. The main thing that comes to mind is that two of those that left were seniors. Did their manager know what they wanted out of their careers? At the senior level, it gets grueling after a few years. The longer someone is a senior, the more prominent a perceived glass ceiling is. Until that level, most career paths are based on getting to senior status, so managing is relatively easy.
At the senior level, career paths really start to splinter. Do they want to manage? Are they happy coding, but need something new? Maybe they want more influence on helping business processes become more affective. Sometimes there's nothing a company can offer someone at that point, but it's worth it to know so an easier transition can be worked out. It's the employee's responsibility to let the manager know when that is the case, though.
As long as employees and managers can be honest with each other, figuring all of this out will be much easier.
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This has been one of my biggest fears since starting as a manager. I think that Andy has some excellent points. Unfortunately, it seems like there are going to be times when you can't do anything to keep someone around. Basically, if someone has decided to pursue another position in a different company, you are best to let them go. You could even point out people that this person could talk to for possible positions. If you have a good environment and you treat everyone with respect, and they still want to leave, then let them. They may find that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
The main things that I try to do are respect, responsibility, and reward.
1. Respect: I treat my team members with respect and ask for their advice while doing architecture work. I treat them as experts on certain subject matter because that is why I hired them.
2. Responsibility: I give them responsibility for certain tasks and leave them to manage those on their own. If they have questions or concerns, then they can come and ask me, but I leave the majority of the decisions up to them.
3. Reward: Since they are responsible for tasks and small protions of projects, they also are rewarded when that project succeeds. In turn, they are also "punished" when it fails. (this goes back to responsibility) I base their reviews on how well they handled a project and whether or not it was successful. I sit down with them and go over things that they did that were great and those that they could use to improve. I show/send them articles, to classes, and such that could help with these areas.
Since their success is also (in part) based on my performance as a manager and team lead, I let them do the same reviews for me. It only seemed fair.
By the way, thanks for some ideas on how to better work with my team.
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What keeps me in a position is a feeling that I've made real contributions, and I have opportunities to build my career. I've had the first, at times, in my current job, but not the second. Higher-level roles, like server maintenance and configuration, as well as architectural design, are locked up tight in the hands of Zeus sitting up on Mt. Olympus. If he ever leaves the company, we'll be in a tight spot, because he doesn't document things, and no one else knows what he does. I've told my manager more than once that 1) this is bad policy for the company, 2) I (and others) have the skills to at least get involved with our dev and test servers and 3) I really want to build experience in that area.
"Yeah, you're right," he says. And then that's the end of it. After two years.
So...that's why I'll be leaving soon. Carrying away a lot of the hard business rule experience and a lot of the relationships built on trust and experience the editorial talked about. It's foolish, really, for the company to ignore me and watch me walk away. But they've done it many times in the past, with sometimes disastrous consequences, so I don't expect them to change. We've lost probably eight or nine people in the past 18 months, and we've managed to hire exactly one replacement. There are now so many gaps in our team that it's hard not to burst out laughing when they show an org chart and you see that the "OPEN" slots outnumber the people on the team.
As a sidenote, I certainly don't want to discount the potential value of team-building experiences and perks like the editorial mentions. But our company is such a complete Scrooge that those things don't even enter my head. If the company ever sprang for a round of Starbucks for the team we'd all fall over stone dead and wonder what the senior management was smoking to allow such an unprecedented thing. I'd be happy if they would cough up the $20 or so it would take to fix the broken latch on the bathroom stall door! (Broken since at least 1999.)
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"they feel that they are NOT BECOMING MORE VALUABLE by the day".
Bingo!!!!
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