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Staff retention is an interesting one. Like that word retention, what is retention? It's
not a word we would usually use. I think we only ever usually use that word in relation
to like bladder control or something. The word that we really should be looking at is
the word "attention." What am I doing or what are we as an organisation doing to
hold that person's attention here? See, if we pay them more money, we'll get their
attention once a month when they get their pay slip, but the rest of the month they're
just still going through the motions.
So what do we need to do? So, what is it they're passionate about, for example; like maybe
they're passionate about customer satisfaction. Are we creating an opportunity for them to
deliver and be involved in that on a regular basis at a high level? If we're not and
we know they're passionate about it, they're going to go, or they'll stay if you pay
them more for a while; but they're not going to do a great job. Or maybe they're passionate
about employee benefits.
You know, employee benefit is not always healthcare and the like. Employee benefits can be the
waste product that's left over from stamping out these boxes and there are these little
circles of cardboard left. The guy's like, "They're great for my kid's kindergarten."
Employee benefits are things like that. The Christmas barbecue, the conference you go
away on and bring back two bottles of wine. They go, "Hey honey, we've got some wine."
Or, the hamper that comes at Christmas. Sometimes those things really mean a lot to people.
So what we're looking at doing is maintaining our staff's attention. But of course, with
attention, we don't hold our attention on anything for very long. Like if you look on
a YouTube clip, if it goes longer than four minutes, you're like, "I'm done."
We're at a traffic light and straightaway we have to go to our phone because we're
bored; like it's illegal, but we'll still do it.
We need constant, constant new stimulation, so that's why you need to think about a
comprehensive game plan right through an entire year. You can't just go, "Oh, we're
going to have this one little highlight and that'll keep them happy." It doesn't
work like that. I know that all the partners at Workplace Incentives and myself and Peter
at the Centre for Ubuntu Leadership, we all come from the same angle, the same approach.
The same fundamental understanding is that you need to put a game plan in place because
people will leave an environment that's dysfunctional.
If your kids were in a dysfunctional school, you'd take them out. As an individual, as
an adult, because you've got some financial responsibilities, you'll stay for a while.
But if this place doesn't really serve you well, you'll look around. You'll go somewhere
else. You'll even go somewhere else for less money. Then you'll be like, "Why
did they go? They got less." They went because they felt that their growth, their importance,
their opportunity to evolve, to become more, to contribute, were facilitated better somewhere else.
So as an organisation, as a company, and as a company specifically, you've got to go,
how can we develop this person? You really need to think about that from a comprehensive
point of view. You need to have a game plan. You can't just go, "We'll fix it this
week. We'll have one conversation and it'll be fine." So many managers do that. They
have a little chat, and then they're like, "Oh, I don't really know how to deliver
on that." We sort of just walk past them in the hallway, and oh, it'll come up. We
just hope it will go away.
If you're in a situation like that where you've got good people and you don't know
how to handle it, that's the stuff that Workplace Incentives deliver. There are so
many different quality people that you can just go, who's a match for our organisation,
or who specialises in a certain area? I mention that not to sell you, but my point is quite
clearly you need a game plan and you need people who know how to do it. You need a game
plan that can be customised to your organisation. But most of all, you need to hold the attention
of your staff if you want to retain them. It'll save you a fortune if you can keep
them, but most people already know that.