Now through the end of the year, ERE will be re-running some of the most popular articles from 2003. This article was originally published on September 22, 2003. Happy holidays! Let’s face it, the economy has been in a downturn for a good while now, and few of us have been giving much thought to employee retention. But that’s a huge mistake, because a literal flood of turnover is about to take place. Smart managers and HR professionals need to start preparing for it right away. The reason turnover rates are about to explode include:
Conclusion Most firms have by now long forgotten any of the lessons they learned about retention during the 1990s. Many managers have grown arrogant because the last few years of high unemployment guaranteed that most employees would have to take whatever they dished out. Over 75% of firms have no separate retention department, and most HR retention systems are either rusty or have been dismantled altogether. The time to act is now ó before the job market opens up ó because employees see acts of kindness (retention efforts) as more sincere when managers are not being forced to act by the raging job market. Begin today to identify the individuals who are likely to be at risk of leaving and develop action plans to keep them challenged and growing. Plan B is, unfortunately, to revisit your (also probably out-of-date) succession, replacement planning, and recruitment processes so that you will at least be able to replace the employees you lose because you waited too long to begin your retention efforts. If talent managers do not take action soon, that swooshing sound you hear will be the sound of 25% of your employees walking out the door.