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What Your Team Members Really Want
It can be a costly blow to lose a key team member in
a professional services firm. There’s the possibility of their taking
some business with them, of course, but also the cost of sourcing a
replacement and the expense to the firm of getting the new person up to
full productive speed. Other impacts the firm can feel are a drop in
team morale and some unsettled relations with clients.
The Saratoga Institute in
California recently conducted a study that showed the average vacant
position remains unfilled for seventy-five calendar days, and that it
costs something like a year’s salary to source and train the new team
member.
Employers are finding that it pays do ask themselves what their team
members really want before they find themselves in the situation where
they have to replace some key people.
In broad terms, the members of your team want meaningful work that gives
them the chance to grow in an enjoyable environment. But general terms
aren’t enough when dealing with very different individuals.
While your team members naturally want a good salary and good benefits,
there's not a lot you can really do to influence an employee's decision
to depart once it’s made. A better way of helping ensure retention is to
create the situation where they feel cared for, respected, admired, and
liked.
But can you just ask your team members to tell you what will encourage
them to stay? A study conducted
by Dr. David Finegold and Susan Mohrman at USC’s Center for Effective
Organizations found a significant discrepancy between what they say they
want and what actually drove their behavior.
For example, as many as 86% of employees rate work/life balance as ‘very
important’ or ‘extremely important’ in their careers when questioned.
Yet the reality is that greater employee satisfaction with work/life
balance has absolutely no impact on retention.
Finegold and Mohrman concluded that companies need to personalize their
retention efforts, cater to individual needs and tailor the total
employment package. Most companies do exactly the opposite when it comes
to setting their employment policies. They tend to create a policy
framework that tries to accommodate every team member and more often
than not actually suits none of them.
The study found that team members will identify more closely with the
business if they believe it has a viable and well-communicated strategy
for success. Rewards such as stock options or profit-sharing are
successful because they increase how much team members identify with the
company.
As a motivational tool straightforward salary payments don’t influence
the commitment of any group except for men under 30. At the other end of
the scale, the only group for whom job security is a driver of retention
is the late career group -those over 50.
For those 30 and under who are in the early stages of their career job
security had no positive effect on either retention or commitment; their
focus is on career advancement. They want to be part of an innovative
organization they can influence and move ahead with it. And be well-paid
in the process.
For all those in the middle of their careers – ages 31 to 50, their
commitment to the company increases if they are able to influence the
progress of their own careers. Let them know that they’re valued and
that it’s still possible for them to influence their careers through
their performance.
If they’re over 50 give them job security so they don’t get scared off
when the under 30s start receiving promotions.
So instead of trying for a ‘one size fits all’ treatment of what you
offer your team members give their ages some serious consideration.
Understand that to keep good people of any age you need to give them
confidence in the firm, then give them something that’s related to their
stage in life so they’ll be there when you need them.
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