Presentation Materials: 

E2_EmployeeRetention_presentation.pdf

Managers and supervisors often are never taught how to be effective leaders. They may be promoted due to excellent technical skills, but without proper training, their management skills are found to be lacking. The result is ineffective leaders and high employee turnover. This workshop will detail the Effective Employee Retention (EER) program as a solution to these problems. EER is based on evidence, finding, and recommendations from workforce development studies across the country. It hinges on three premises: employees leave managers, not companies; managers need stronger skills in interpersonal relationships; and low-wage, entry-level employees need additional soft skill training. Attendees will learn about factors that affect employee retention, as well as and how to break the costly cycle of high turnover.

Workshop objectives/takeaways:

• explain of the history of EER;


• understand factors that affect the retention of entry-level employees;


• recognize what soft skills managers need to effectively manage the workforce; and


• identify the soft skills employees need to be successful.

Presenter: Kim McAuliffe, director of employee assistance services, Oakland Family Services

Workshop synopsis:

In 2006, Alliance for Children and Families member Oakland Family Services in Pontiac, Mich., developed an intensive post-employment support model as part of its employee assistance program. The new program was designed to increase employee retention and engagement based on the evidence, findings, and recommendations of workforce development studies from across the country.

The Oakland Family Services’ Workforce Retention Project was designed to help low-wage, entry-level employees succeed in the workplace and prepare the workplace to also be successful with them.

The premise of the pilot project was three fold and supported by extensive research:

1. employees leave managers, not companies;


2. managers need to be more skilled in interpersonal relationships as they modify their approaches when dealing with the workforce of the 21st century; and


3. low wage, entry-level employees often lack the necessary soft skills to be successful in their jobs.

The quality of a supervisor or manager’s skill in managing people is a key factor in employee retention. A Gallup Poll of more than one million employees found that how long workers stay at their companies and how productive they are is determined by their relationship with their immediate supervisor.

However, managers and supervisors are seldom taught how to be effective leaders. Usually, they are promoted to their positions due to excellent technical skills. Once they are promoted, they are expected to excel—almost immediately—in management skills just as they did with technical skills. Research has shown, however, that the main reason managers fail is because they have limited experience in managing people and they lack the interpersonal skills necessary to manage successfully.

Another factor in employee retention is the soft skills deficiencies of the average worker. These deficiencies are the reason most people get fired.

Soft skills are defined as skills, abilities, and traits that pertain to personality, attitude, and behavior. Most employers include soft skills among their most important hiring criteria, stressing those that relate to interaction and motivation. Soft skills are associated with workplace cultural norms.

Soft skill issues that can lead to job loss include:

• not showing up for work;


• showing up late;


• showing up not ready to work because of sleepiness, being hung over, or not being properly dressed;


• being hostile to supervisors;


• being rude to customers;


• disobeying direct orders, and


• lacking in production.

The advantages of retention are fairly straightforward to both employees and employers. For workers, staying on the job leads to greater opportunities for wage gains and promotions, as well as increased overall stability in their lives. For employers, it can mean reducing the expenses related to employee turnover. To fill a position paying $16,000 per year, employers typically spend $6,000 to $12,000.

A study conducted by Deloitte found investing in the low-wage workforce can improve the bottom line by increasing productivity and reducing turnover and absenteeism. This is especially true in the health care industry, in which the increased retention of direct care workers affects patient care. Gallup Poll studies show that employees who have an above-average attitude toward their work will generate 38 percent higher customer satisfaction scores, 22 percent higher productivity, and 27 percent higher profits for their companies. Not investing in the working class threatens long-term business competitiveness, according to Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute, MDRC, National Center for Education and the Economy, and National Governors Association.

Investment in the low-wage workforce includes providing training to their supervisor and managers, as employees who remain with poor supervisors rarely go the extra mile for their employer. Gallup Poll studies have found that poorly managed workgroups are an average of 50 percent less productive and 44 percent less profitable than well-managed groups.