Protecting your 'human capital'
A certain level of staff turnover can be healthy in order to refresh ideas, creativity and innovation, says Stephen Swailes, senior lecturer in HR management at Hull University Business School.
“Retention is very important but that is not to say you want to keep everyone you ever employ,” he says. “All sectors have a normal rule of thumb level of turnover; leisure and tourism is typically 50% a year, while the public sector more typically 15%-20%. But if you look across your business, you have probably got people you don’t want to lose, what might be termed ‘human capital’.
"You risk losing skills, knowledge, expertise and networks. Also you can pay a lot of money for a major recruitment or headhunting process and then there is still a risk in who you are appointing.”
Dr Swailes says he is surprised by how little attention most organisations pay to retention, with the prevailing attitude being 'we can’t do anything about it, let them go and we will replace them'.
“Organisations need to be a little bit more proactive and say to individuals ‘We don’t want you to go – what can we do to keep you here?’ But for the majority of people, that doesn’t take place. And if that sort of conversation isn’t occurring, of course people think ‘why should I stay?’”
Money is often not the most important consideration, he agrees. Sometimes it’s more helpful to offer a “total reward package”; some people might want five weeks’ holiday but others might want only three. “Tweak the benefits to suit their particular lifestyle. For example, hours of work for those with children. Childcare support. It is really a case of tailoring your offer to keep the people you want.”
Often, people move to progress their career. With today’s world of work moving away from permanent full-time jobs towards part-time or fixed-time contracts, many employees can’t rely on their employer for job security and professional growth as they might have done years ago.
On this basis, people are focusing on their career development in the broadest terms, says Dr Swailes. “They want to feel that they are doing a job that is valued by their employer and society. People are very sensitive to the recognition and value of their work.”
Training is vital as people look for career enhancement. Of course, the more training you provide, perhaps the easier it is for those staff to move on – “but on the other hand, if you don’t invest in that side of things, employees will make the decision anyway”, says Dr Swailes.
“It is a very corrosive feeling if people think they are going nowhere and are not valued. That very quickly turns to staff turnover.”
