The business landscape has changed so much ever since man started to understand the value of money and how it correlates to hard work. In the past, business owners are all about the bottom-line. Today, however, leaders and managers slowly realize that how you treat your employees has an impact on how long the organization would be able to survive.

Defining Employee Retention

Because managers are now more aware of the importance of employee satisfaction, more companies are putting much focus on employee retention programs. However, before you jump the gun, you first need to have a good understanding of what employee retention is all about.

The retention rate of an organization is its ability to make all people stay. Its metric-counterpart is known as the attrition rate. Its importance stems from the fact that any attrition or inability to make people remain leads to additional expenses for the company.

The Red Flags

Fortunately, employee retention is not a hit-or-miss kind of thing. There are some red flags that you might notice in employees who are considered as a flight risk. The key is understanding these red flags and using it to improve what your organization can offer, say, a change in employee benefit plans. Some companies in such cities as Salt Lake City typically consider the frequency of sick leaves taken as one red flag that employers should watch out for. An employee who takes days off now and then but appears to be otherwise healthy might be on the lookout for a new job.

Employees who have just undergone a significant life change are also at risk for attrition. It could be in the form of divorce, death in the family, or the birth of a child. The risk for attrition is not tied to whether the event is a positive or negative one. What typically happens is that these major life events give the employee something to think about.

Promoted employees are also a flight risk, especially if the promotion was not something they were looking forward to. You must understand that employees have an idea of what they want and do not want to do. If they are pushed towards the direction of the latter, they could passively resist it by accepting the promotion while looking for another company that can give them their preferred tasks.

The Flight Risk Score

The best way to know whether your employee is a flight risk is through predictive analytics. Some companies refer to the process of determining this as EWD — Early Warning Detector. The score is a number that came about as a result of trends and analysis on specific areas, such as absenteeism, tardiness, and engagement rate, and compared it with the employee’s rank, salary, the scope of work, frequency of promotion, and job ratings. It typically takes time, and a lot of analysis, before a trend can be established and a warning device installed.

Now, what you do once you have determined that an employee is at risk of leaving will typically vary. You need to make sure that you keep an open mind on what employee concerns are. By understanding what it is that motivates and moves them, you will now have an idea of how you can fashion your retention program.