THE HEADACHE FOR human resources teams is not so much finding top talent as keeping the hard-found talent on board. Finding and retaining skilled workers should be an employer's top priority, says HR management guru, business consultant and writer Gregory Smith.
The author of Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Transforming Your Workforce From High-Turnover to High-Retention said businesses measured profits and losses but rarely considered the cost of staff turnover.
'The annual turnover costs of a typical health-care system range from US$14 million to US$27 million per year,' he said.
'Productivity is directly tied to retention. Studies [by the Gallup Organisation] show employees who have an above-average attitude toward their work generate 38 per cent higher customer satisfaction scores, 22 per cent higher productivity and 27 per cent higher profits.'
Smart managers create work environments that attract, retain and motivate their workforce. In such settings, staff want to stay on and be as productive as possible.
The reasons for quitting can be anything from the lure of a better-paying job and a lack of opportunity for growth to employee-and-job mismatches and just plain boredom.
