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Essay Managing Employee Retention and Turnover

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Managing Employee Retention and Turnover
Employee retention has always been an important focus for human resource managers. Once a company has invested time and money to recruit and train a good employee, it is in their own best interest to retain that employee, to further develop and motivate him so that he continues to provide value to the organization. But, employers must also recognize and tend to what is in the best interest of their employees, if they intend to keep them. When a company overlooks the needs of its employees and focuses only on the needs of the organization, turnover often results. Excessive turnover in an organization is a prime indicator that something is not right in the employee environment. We will look at …show more content…

A recent survey by The Society for Human Resource Management ranked tuition reimbursement programs and vacation/holiday time as the top two retention initiatives being offered by employers. In addition, instant recognition programs, such as spot bonuses, are being used to reward excellence in performance as it occurs. Such programs give employees immediate gratification for their efforts rather than delaying it until annual reviews. Also, flexible work hours and telecommuting programs that allow employees to better balance their work commitments with their family duties are becoming more common. According to Ceridian Employer Services (2004), "90 percent of companies with more than 5,000 employees allow telecommuting.... And ... 52 percent of large companies use virtual teams." Organizations must continually search for innovative ways to retain their best employees. Fortunately, the costs of these efforts are low in comparison to the high costs of turnover. Turnover of employees can be involuntary or voluntary. When a company "lets go" of an employee who has been a bad performer, has violated company policy, or broken a law it is usually considered involuntary turnover. So are layoffs. More often we speak of turnover in the context of being voluntary, or the unplanned loss of employees who leave on their own accord, but that the

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