New Evidence That Low Employee Turnover Correlates With High Profits

The single best strategy for retaining employees is managerial attention, writes consultant Bill Conerly in Forbes . "Tell the employees they are valuable," he recommends. "Offer feedback on how they are doing. Very few employees get enough feedback, and it really helps with retention." Conerly also says senior leaders at big companies should get their first-level supervisors conversing with rank-and-file workers, but they are typically very busy. "The alternative is to tell the manager that the company is losing too many workers, and in this tight labor market it's hard to hire good people," he says. "Then say that the best solution is for managers to talk to employees more often, providing encouragement and offering feedback. Then ask the manager, 'How can we free up time for you to do this?'" Conerly points out that salary is one area to focus on to boost employee retention resources, "but unless your compensation is below the competition, the better way is to put more management time into talking with employees."