Employee turnover rocking many major corporations

Citation

(1999), "Employee turnover rocking many major corporations", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.1999.00323aab.008

Employee turnover rocking many major corporations

Employee turnover rocking many major corporations

Keywords Skilled workers, Staff turnover

Despite facing increasing employee turnover, most international corporations are dealing with turnover issues reactively instead of proactively, according to The Conference Board's new survey of 114 human resource executives in Europe and the USA. The survey finds that more than 90 per cent are experiencing "significant" turnover in certain parts of their business and most believe the situation has grown worse in the past three years. Donald Beattie, Chief Executive of Personnel, BOC Group, is one of the executives surveyed. He explains: "Historically, we have not been a company where retention has been an issue. We've been in many markets and treat our people reasonably well. But now, like many other companies, we are under attack for skills. We just have to be a lot smarter."

Although companies say their incentives to retain "critical" employees have generally been successful, most fault their company's strategy for being more behind the problem than in front of it. Fifty-four per cent describe their company's approach to retention as "reactive", while 46 per cent say it is "proactive". Some 65 per cent say their companies should change their retention strategy.

"Experiences of the past decade have taught employees to be less dependent on any one employer and ­ taking advantage of a seller's market for talent ­ to be willing to look at other attractive opportunities", says Helen Axel, author of the report. "Companies are examining their work environment and redesigning their retention initiatives to improve their prospects for keeping their highly valued employees."

"The retention issue has become a major concern", says Melissa A. Berman, senior vice-president of research at The Conference Board. "Companies are aggressively looking for ways to keep good employees in a tight labour market. Strong employee and community relations programmes can clearly make a difference. People care about how they're paid, of course, but they also care about the kind of place where they work. While no one wants to be married to their work, it's nice to be engaged."

These are some of the recommendations that emerged from the responses to the survey.

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  Have a comprehensive system for identifying key players in the organization.

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  Take a long-term view in the selection of new employees.

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  Promote the organization internally to generate employee pride in affiliation.

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  Focus on retention incentives that go beyond compensation.

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  Develop and refine instruments that provide early-warning signals about possible retention problems.

If you would like to see the full report contact Sandra Lester, Communications Associate, The Conference Board Europe, 130 Chausée de la Hulpe, box 11, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 2/675 54 05 or Fax: +32 2 675 03 95 or E-mail: lester@conference-board.org. For more information about the survey, contact Helen Axel or Melissa Berman at The Conference Board in the USA. Tel: +1/908 236 235 (Helen Axel). Tel: +1 212 339 0472 (Melissa Berman).