Learning & Employee Retention:
What's the Correlation?
By Bill Rehm, CEO of KASE Consulting Group Ltd.

November 2006 -- I'd never disagree or dispute that, with all candour, there is within our profession a lot of what I'll call 'professional marketing babble'. Much of it is presented for self-serving reasons that distract from the core issues associated with staff retention, and consequently detracts from what learning initiatives and managerial behaviours are required to increase retention.

Permit me to attempt to shatter a few preconceived views some individuals might have.

Firstly, toss away any belief in, and subsequently the need, to spend your very limited learning and development budget on, separate learning initiatives for Generation X, Generation Y, and Baby Boomers. 'Leopards don't change spots', and neither do people!

All three generations have similar wants that, when met, increase the likelihood of your retaining them. What does vary is the level of importance these respective generations place on their commonly shared wants. For example, which of the above generations does not seek:

• Assignments that allow them to leverage their business skills?
• The opportunity to provide input as to which tasks or projects he/she is most eager to work on?
• To stay current in their field of expertise?
• To receive recognition that is sincere and genuine, not forced or artificial?
• Sensitivity to his/her need to balance career and personal/family life?
• A working atmosphere that values and establishes trust?

Get my drift?

Similarly, there are several HR initiatives, often delivered through or supported by a learning initiative, which are too often placed high on the 'solution chart'. While they may, and hopefully do, contribute to lower attrition rates, they are not as high a priority as some would have us believe. These include:

Leadership development - yes, effective leadership is important to any organization and helps create an environment that makes employees want to stay or leave. On the other hand, international analysis has determined that individuals may acquire the skills to become good leaders, yet still not have the knowledge, skills, or tools necessary to gain the employee commitment which leads to retention.

Performance management systems - don't get me wrong, sound performance management is essential to a company's success, but it is also not easy to get right. The reality is that performance management is the employment proposition based on what the organization values and expects. Gaining commitment, and subsequently high staff retention, is the employee proposition based on what the employee values and expects. Organizations that fail to recognize and initiate learning initiatives required to deal with the latter tend to dilute the effectiveness of the former.

Organizational systems - of course, having organizational systems in good shape is a prerequisite for staff retention. However, policies and systems won't solve the entire problem and due to their 'one size fits all' nature, have a limited ability to impact on any individual's immediate and existing problem.

Which brings me back to my earlier suggested 'food for thought'. In this age of low unemployment and rampant skill shortages, what must organizations and their management personnel acquire, that a learning initiative can provide which results in increased staff retention? Candidly, a hell of a lot!

For example:

1. How to conduct an 'Employee At Risk' analysis.
2. Identification of 'Organizational Attrition Triggers'.
3. Identification of 'Employee Early Warning Signals'.
4. Confidential feedback that enlightens managers to the retention-oriented managerial behaviours their employees value, and to what extent the manager is, or is not, practicing these behaviours on a regular basis.
5. Identification of retention strategies and tactics currently not used within the organization.
6. How to conduct 'Early Warning Signal' and 'Surfacing Retention Needs' discussions.

Add to the above list some basis 'Learning 101' realities. How can you ever expect individuals who have others reporting to them, to appreciate the importance of staff retention unless they are offered the learning opportunity to assimilate what the financial, operational, productivity, morale and customer-oriented negative impacts of staff turnover are to your organization?

Equally important, how can you ever expect individuals who have others reporting to them, to appreciate the importance of staff retention unless they have the learning opportunity to recognize and acknowledge that they as managers are directly responsible for changing the current employee turnover status quo?

More than 10 years of international research has validated the reality that 'learning and professional growth' is one of the six core dimensions (along with 'targeted assignments', 'achievement opportunities', 'ensuring recognition', 'nurturing career advancement', and 'team quality') that all employees seek, regardless of which generation they belong to.

These six core dimensions increase the likelihood your organization can retain a talented employee.

For example, 21st century employees expect their manager to, from a 'learning and professional growth' perspective:

• Arrange for training so the employee can develop new job skills
• Provide interesting developmental on-the-job experiences to facilitate professional growth
• Provide regular informal, and balanced feedback to help him/her be more successful
• Encourage employees to stay current in their field of expertise
• Encourage employees to try new and innovative approaches to completing their work
• Offer developmental suggestions in a way employees find appealing and supportive

In the past, organizations and their managers never had a need to learn how to gain employee commitment and retain talented people. Managers at every level need to recognize how their behavior affects the reasons why employees divorce them and the company, and they must be provided with retention-specific knowledge, skills, and tools to get the job done. Candidly, I can't think of any better way an organization can accomplish all of the above, than by offering a specific retention-focused, strategic learning initiative.

Bill Rehm is the founder and CEO of Kase Consulting Group, Ltd. in Auckland, New Zealand, an organization internationally recognized as Talent Management and Staff Retention experts.