Now that the economy and job market have rebounded, how can you retain your best people?

That’s the challenge, according to many recent studies. At the very least, retention requires a competitive salary and great benefits. Employee involvement, recognition, advancement, development and pay, based on performance, are just the beginning of your quest to retain your best.

As The Market Improves, Many Are Ready To Jump Ship

Two years of steady, if not spectacular job growth in direct marketing—and business in general—has emboldened more people to look around. Retention is the top priority at growing direct marketing organizations that are facing stiff competition for certain talent. I’m speaking specifically of seasoned merchandise, finance, IT, marketing, and general management professionals.

A top marketing executive I know, was not looking for a new job when a recruiter (not this one) suggested he consider leaving his employer of 12 years to work for another company.

“I was well respected, well compensated, and my relationships with my peers and boss were very good,” the 43-year old told me. “This came up and it was too good not to explore.” Explore he did, and joined his new company in October.

This Is "Excedrin" Headache #1

A growing number of direct marketing job changers are seizing good opportunities in this improving labor market—creating major headaches for companies trying to retain their best people. How do companies hold onto them in an improving labor market?

Employee Loyalty, Retaining Customers Go Hand In Hand

Finder’s keepers? Not necessarily. Most direct marketing merchants are experts in finding and retaining customers, but many have trouble attracting and keeping top-notch talent. “Employee loyalty drives brand loyalty, which drives customer recognition for a company,” according to Diane Durkin, president of Portsmouth, N.H.-based The Loyalty Factor. “For a customer, the one employee they interact with is the company.”

Hold On To Your Best: Retention Tips You Can Use

Recruiting the right people and keeping the right people matters, especially now.

A recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com asked 300 managerial or executive employees what they plan to do in the rebounding job market. The survey also asked 451 HR professionals which programs or policies they use currently to help retain employees—what types of retention efforts to keep their best employees on board.

For executives, key reasons to begin searching for a new job:
·53 percent seek better compensation and benefits.
·35 percent cited dissatisfaction with potential career development.
·32 percent said they were ready for a new experience.

For HR professionals, the most common programs employers are using to retain employees:
·62 percent provide tuition reimbursement.
·60 percent offer competitive vacation and holiday benefits.
·59 percent offer competitive salaries.

More Retention Tips
The three retention tips offered by HR professionals in the above survey are your key retention strategies. They're common sense and basic, but not all that easy to find in organizations today. Here’s more:

Select the right people in the first place through behavior-based testing and competency screening (covered in my previous newsletter). That’s your starting point. Offer an attractive, competitive, benefits package with components such as life insurance, disability insurance and flexible hours.

Provide opportunities for people to share their knowledge with training sessions, presentations, mentoring others and team assignments.

Show respect for your people at all times. Listen to them sincerely; use their ideas; never ridicule or shame them.

Offer performance feedback and praise good efforts and results. Your people want to enjoy their work. Make work fun. Engage and employ the special talents of each individual.

Enable your people to balance work and life. Allow flexible starting times, core business hours and flexible ending times. (Yes, her son's baseball game is important.) Involve your team in decisions that affect their jobs and the overall direction of the company whenever possible.

Recognize excellent performance, and especially, link pay to performance. Base the upside of bonus potential on the success of both the employee and the company and make it limitless within your company’s parameters.

Recognize and celebrate success. Mark their passage as important goals are achieved.

Staff adequately so overtime is minimized for those who don't want it and people don't wear themselves out.

Nurture and celebrate organization traditions. Have a costume party every Halloween. Direct marketer, Celebrate Express, supplies them. Run a food collection drive every November. Pick a monthly charity to help. Have an annual company dinner at a fancy hotel or restaurant.

Provide opportunities within the company for cross-training and career progression. L.L. Bean is known for this. People like to know that they have room for career advancement. Provide the opportunity for career and personal growth through training and education, challenging assignments and more.

Communicate goals, roles and responsibilities so people know what is expected and feel like part of the in-crowd. According to research by the Gallup organization, encourage employees to have good, even best, friends, at work.

You’ve got the list. Start making your organization one that truly honors and appreciates its people. Treat all members of your team this way, and you may never lose them. If some leave, that’s okay…they may be back. Like Red Sox boy wonder GM, Theo Epstein.

Executive Search International is a nationally recognized boutique firm providing best practice search and recruiting services to the direct marketing industry.

Les Gore, founder and managing partner is a 23-year veteran of the “recruiting wars” and who Don Libey, noted industry guru, calls “The Dean of Direct Marketing Executive Recruiters.”

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