It’s Time to Reimagine Employee Retention | Harvard Business Review

Employee retention is a key focus of many leaders as workers continue to re-evaluate their preferences and what they value in their employment and employer. As managers and leaders develop and implement tactics to stem unwanted turnover, this article shares three ideas for using career development as a retention strategy. And while career development is a critical driver of employee retention, managers must remember there are various aspects of an organization’s employee value proposition that workers will value more than others. Since these preferences vary by each individual employee, managers’ effectiveness in retaining their key employees hinges on their ability to understand the individual preferences of their workers. It also requires them to be aware of the cues that indicate retention risks across their teams. With this as the backdrop, I am resharing two bonus resources for managers to leverage. 1) A template by Jo-Ann Garbutt that includes 18 questions managers can use to raise their awareness of the factors that influence employee retention risk. 2) Cues of Turnover Scale — a 13-item survey where managers indicate the extent to which they have observed certain retention risk behaviors of an employee during the last 2 to 3 months. Managers can use these resources to identify employee retention risks and tailor retention strategies to individuals.