Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers

Lecture Outline:

Managing Employee Turnover and Retention

      Managing Voluntary Turnover

      Retention Strategies for Reducing Voluntary Turnover

      A Comprehensive Approach to Retaining Employees

      Talent Management and Employee Retention

      Job Withdrawal

Managing Employee Engagement

      Employee Engagement and Performance

      Actions That Foster Engagement

Career Management

Careers Terminology

Careers Today

Psychological Contract

The Employee’s Role in Career Management

The Employer’s Role in Career Management

Employer Career Management Options

Career Planning Workshops and Career Coaches

The Manager’s Role

Improving Performance through HRIS

Employee Life-Cycle Career Management

     Making Promotion Decisions

     Diversity Counts

     Managing Transfers

     Managing Retirements

Managing Dismissals

     Grounds for Dismissal

     Avoiding Wrongful Discharge Suits

     Supervisor Liability

     The Exit Process and Termination Interview

     Layoffs and the Plant Closing Law

     Adjusting to Downsizing and Mergers

In Brief: 

This chapter gives good advice and tools for managing careers.  It also covers the issue of building communications with employees through guaranteed fair treatment programs and employee discipline. Proper handling of dismissals and separations, including retirement are explored.

Interesting Issues: 

In recent years, many employees have taken early retirement, but many experts believe that the next generation will have to retire later in order to continue to fund the retirement of those retiring now.  Social Security has already increased the age at which future generations will be eligible for benefits. Management will need to find ways to stimulate career interests of older employees to keep them motivated and productive. Firms will also need to find ways to ease labor shortages by attracting those who may have already retired.

Learning Objectives:

1.      Describe a comprehensive approach to retaining employees.

2.      Explain why employee engagement is important, and how to foster such engagement.

3.      Discuss what employers and supervisors can do to support employees’ career development needs.

4.      List and briefly explain the main decisions employers should address in reaching promotion and other employee life-cycle career decisions.

5.      Explain each of the main grounds for dismissal.

Annotated Outline:

I.  Managing Employee Turnover and Retention - Turnover is an expensive cost for organizations.  Understanding more about the costs and causes of turnover is crucial for companies.

A.    Managing Voluntary Turnover - Voluntary turnover occurs for many reasons including job dissatisfaction, poor pay, a lack of promotional opportunities, work-life balance issues, and inadequate health-care benefits.

B.     Retention Strategies for Reducing Voluntary Turnover - Any strategy begins with identifying the causes of turnover. 

C.     A Comprehensive Approach to Retaining Employees - Experts suggest companies build their retention programs around the following: selection, professional growth, provide career direction, meaningful work and ownership, recognition and rewards, culture and environment, promote work-life balance, and acknowledge achievements.

D.    Talent Management and Employee Retention - Firms that take a talent management approach to retaining employees focus augmented retention efforts on the company’s mission-critical employees.

E.     Job Withdrawal is any action which places physical or psychological distance between the employee and the organization.

II. Managing Employee Engagement

 A. Employee Engagement and Performance - Employee engagement is important because both employee behavior (including turnover) and organizational performance reflect whether employees are “engaged.”

 B. Actions That Foster Engagement - Important engagement-supporting actions include making sure employees (1) understand how their departments contribute to the company’s success, (2) see how their own efforts contribute to achieving the company’s goals, and (3) get a sense of accomplishment from working at the firm.

III. Career Management

 A. Careers Terminology - We may define career as the “occupational positions a person has had over many years.”  Many people look back on their careers, knowing that what they might have achieved they did achieve, and that their career goals were satisfied. Career management, career development, and career planning are defined.

 B. Careers Today - Recessions, mergers, outsourcing, consolidations, and more or less endless downsizing have changed the ground rules. More often employees find themselves having to reinvent themselves.

C.  Psychological Contract - What the employer and employee expect of each other is part of what psychologists call a psychological contract. The psychological contract identifies each party's mutual expectations.

D.  The Employee’s Role in Career Management - An individual must accept responsibility for his/her own career; assess his/her own interests, skill, and values; and take the steps required to ensure a happy and fulfilling career.  Finding a mentor who can be a sounding board is often helpful. Mentoring programs can be informal or formal.

E.  The Employer’s Role in Career Management - Employers can support   career development efforts in many ways. The means for helping to further an employee’s career depend on the length of time the employee has been with the firm.

F.   Employer Career Management Options - Most employers do not provide a wide range of expensive career development options. However, career development systems needn’t be complicated. Even just receiving performance feedback from supervisors, having individual development plans, and having access to training is enough for many employees.

G.  Career Planning Workshops and Career Coaches - A career planning workshop is a planned learning event in which participants are expected to be actively involved, completing career planning exercises and inventories and participating in career skills practice sessions. Career coaches generally help employees create 1- to 5-year plans showing where their careers with the firm may lead.

H.  The Manager’s Role - The manager can do several things to support his or her subordinates’ career development needs: schedule regular performance appraisal, make expectations clear, and focus on the extent to which the employee’s current skills and performance match career aspirations.

 I.   Improving Performance through HRIS - In keeping with best talent management practice, the employer should endeavor to coordinate (integrate) its career planning efforts. Integrated talent management software helps to achieve such ongoing integration.

IV. Employee Life-Cycle Career Management

  A.  Making Promotion Decisions - Promotions usually provide opportunities to reward the exceptional performance of tested and loyal employees.  However, unfairness, arbitrariness, or secrecy can diminish the effectiveness of the promotion process for all concerned.

1.      Decision 1: Is Seniority or Competence the Rule?  Today’s focus on competitiveness favors competence. However, union agreements and civil service regulations often emphasize seniority.

2.      Decision 2: How Should We Measure Competence?  Define the job, set standards, use one or more appraisal tools to record the employee’s performance, and use a valid procedure for predicting a candidate’s potential for future performance.

3.      Decision 3: Is the Process Formal or Informal?  Each firm will determine whether the promotional process is formal or informal.

4.      Decision 4: Vertical, Horizontal, or Other?  Promotions can be vertical (within the same functional area) or horizontal (in different functional areas).

5.      Practical Considerations – There are several practice steps that should be taken by employers and managers: 1) establish eligibility requirements; 2) review the job description; 3) review candidates’ performance and history, and 4) hire only those who meet the requirements. 

      B. Diversity Counts - Women still don’t reach the top of the career ladder in numbers proportionate to their numbers in U.S. industry. Women constitute more than 40% of the workforce, but hold less than 2% of top management positions.

     C. Managing Transfers - Transfers are moves from one job to another, usually with no change in salary or grade. The frequent relocating of transfer employees has been assumed to have a damaging effect on transferees’ family life. Transfers are also financially costly.

     D. Managing Retirements - Some employers are instituting formal pre-retirement counseling aimed at easing the passage of their employees into retirement. A large majority of employees have said they expect to continue to work beyond the normal retirement age. Part-time employment is an alternative to outright retirement. Employers can benefit from retirement planning by becoming able to anticipate labor shortages.

V. Managing Dismissals - Not all employee separations are voluntary. Some career plans and appraisals end not in promotion or graceful retirement but in dismissal—involuntary termination of an employee’s employment with the firm.

     A. Grounds for Dismissal - There are four bases for dismissal: unsatisfactory performance, misconduct, lack of qualifications for the job, and changed requirements of (or elimination of) the job.

     B. Avoiding Wrongful Discharge Suits - Wrongful discharge (or termination) occurs when an employee’s dismissal does not comply with the law or with the contractual arrangement stated or implied by the employer.

1.      Have employment policies including grievance procedures that help show you treat employees fairly.

2.      Review and refine all employment-related policies, procedures, and documents to limit challenges.

3.      Procedural steps include:

a.       Have applicants sign the employment application. Make sure it contains a statement that “the employer can terminate at any time.”

b.      Review your employee manual to delete statements that could undermine your defense in a wrongful discharge case. For example, delete “employees can be terminated only for just cause.”

c.       Have written rules listing infractions that may require discipline and discharge.

d.      If a rule is broken, get the worker’s side of the story in front of witnesses, and preferably get it signed. Then check out the story.

e.       Be sure that employees get a written appraisal at least annually. If an employee shows evidence of incompetence, give that person a warning. Provide an opportunity to improve.

f.        Keep careful confidential records of all actions such as employee appraisals, warnings or notices, and so on.

     C. Supervisor Liability - Courts sometimes hold managers personally liable for their supervisory actions. For example, the Fair Labor Standards Act defines employer to include “any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to any employee.” This can mean the individual supervisor.

     D. The Exit Process and Termination Interview - Dismissing an employee is one of the most difficult tasks you can face at work.

1. Plan the interview carefully

2. Get to the point

3. Describe the situation

4. Listen

5. Review the severance package

6. Identify the next step

     E. Layoffs and the Plant Closing Law - For the employer, reduced sales or profits or the desire for more productivity may require layoffs. Employees (as we’ve seen) may leave for better jobs, to retire, or for other reasons. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act, or the plant closing law) requires employers of 100 or more employees to give 60 days’ notice before closing a facility or starting a layoff of 50 or more people.

     F. Adjusting to Downsizing and Mergers - the basic idea is to cut costs and raise profitability. Downsizings (some call them “productivity transformation programs”) require careful consideration of several matters.

Improving Performance Questions:

10-1: Discuss three steps you would take to reduce the need to dismiss employees.

10-2: Discuss how IBM could be saving money by spending $700 million per year on this   program.

Discussion Questions:

10-3: Why is it advisable for an employee retention effort to be comprehensive? To what extent does IBM’s on-demand program fit that description, and why?

Retaining quality employees is important to firm success because 1) great employees do great work, and 2) turnover is expensive. Student answers will vary, but IBM’s system is a comprehensive plan to increase retention.

10-4: What is the employee’s role in the career development process? The manager’s role? The employer’s role?

Employees must understand that it is their role to take charge of their own career development.  The manager should support the employee’s career development needs and schedule regular performance appraisals.  The employer’s role depends on how long the employee has been with the organization, but it should include providing a process and a structure to develop employee careers.

10-5: What are the main decisions employers should address in reaching promotion decisions?

The decisions to make are: 1) Is seniority or competence the rule? 2) How should we measure competence? 3) Is the process formal or informal? 4) Is the process vertical, horizontal, or other?

10-6: Discuss at least four procedural suggestions for managing dismissals effectively.

First, allow the employee to explain why he (or she) did what he did. It could turn out, for instance, that the employee “disobeyed” the order because he or she did not understand it. 

Second, have a formal multistep procedure (including warning) and an appeal process.

Third, the person who actually does the dismissing is important. Employees in one study whose managers informed them of an impending layoff viewed the dismissal fairer than did those told by, say, a human resource manager. Some employers take a less diplomatic approach.

Fourth, dismissed employees who feel they’ve been treated unfairly financially are more likely to sue. Many employers use severance pay to blunt a dismissal’s sting.

10-7: What would you as a supervisor do to avoid someone accusing you of wrongful dismissal?

·         Have applicants sign the employment application. Make sure it contains a statement that the employer can terminate at any time.

·         Review your employee manual to delete statements that could undermine your defense in a wrongful discharge case. For example, delete “employees can be terminated only for just cause.” Have written rules listing infractions that may require discipline and discharge.

·         If a rule is broken, get the worker’s side of the story in front of witnesses, and preferably get it signed. Then check out the story.

·         Be sure that employees get a written appraisal at least annually.

·         If an employee shows Evidence of incompetence, give that person a warning. Provide an opportunity to improve.

·         Keep careful confidential records of all actions such as employee appraisals, warnings or notices, and so on.

·         Finally, ask the questions in Figure 10-6.

Individual and Group Activities:         

10-8: Many rightfully offer IBM as an example of an employer that works hard to improve employee retention and engagement. Browse through the employment pages of IBM.com’s Web site (such as www03.ibm.com/employment/build_your_career.html). In this chapter, we discussed actions employers can take to improve employee retention and engagement. From the information on IBM’s Web pages, what is IBM doing to support retention and engagement?

Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in the analysis and suggestions.

10-9: In groups of four or five students, meet with one or two administrators and faculty members in your college or university and, based on this, write a 2-page paper on the topic “the faculty promotion process at our college.” What do you think of the process? Based on our discussion in this chapter, could you make any suggestions for improving it?

Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in the analysis and suggestions.

10-10: Working individually or in groups, choose two occupations (such as management consultant, HR manager, or salesperson) and use sources such as O*NET to size up the future demand for this occupation in the next 10 years or so. Does this seem like a good occupation to pursue? Why or why not?

Students should be able to support their conclusions with data and information from these sources.

10-11: In groups of four or five students, interview a small business owner or an HR manager with the aim of writing a 2-page paper addressing the topic “steps our company is taking to reduce voluntary employee turnover.” What is this employer’s turnover rate now? How would you suggest it improve its turnover rate?

Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in the analysis and suggestions.

10-12: Appendix A, PHR and SPHR Knowledge Base at the end of this book lists the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to have in each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic Management, Workforce Planning, and Human Resource Development). In groups of four to five students, do four things: (1) review Appendix A; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the required knowledge Appendix A lists; (3) write four multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so that students in all teams can answer the exam questions created by the other teams.

Material that would be relevant to the exam includes the sections on career development programs, career records/job posting systems, managing fair treatment, grounds for dismissal, avoiding wrongful discharge suits, termination interviews, layoffs and the plant closing law, and retirement.

10-13: Several years ago, a survey of college graduates in the United Kingdom found that although many hadn’t found their first jobs, most were already planning “career breaks” and to keep up their hobbies and interests outside work. As one report of the findings put it, “the next generation of workers is determined not to wind up on the hamster wheel of long hours with no play.”  Part of the problem seems to be that many already see their friends “putting in more than 48 hours a week” at work. Career experts reviewing the results concluded that many of these recent college grads “are not looking for high-pay, high-profile jobs anymore.”  Instead, they seem to be looking to “compartmentalize” their lives. They want to keep the number of hours they spend at work down, so they can maintain their hobbies and outside interests. If you were mentoring one of these people at work, what three bits of career advice would you give him or her? Why? What (if anything) would you suggest their employers do to accommodate these graduates’ stated career wishes?

The advice needs to be relevant to the issues surrounding the blending of this world view with the political realities of the workforce.

10-14: The Sporting News (http://aol.sportingnews.com/ ncaa-basketball/story/2009-07 29/sporting-news- 50-greatest-coaches-all-time) ran a story listing what they called the 50 greatest basketball coaches. Look at this list, and pick out two of the names. Then research these people online to determine what behaviors they exhibited to account for why they were great coaches. How do these behaviors compare with what this chapter had to say about effective mentoring and coaching?

Student conclusions should accurately reflect the concepts in this chapter on coaching.

Experiential Exercises: Where Am I Going . . . and Why?

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to provide you with experience in analyzing your career preferences.

Required Understanding: Students should be thoroughly familiar with the “Employee’s Role in Career Management” section in this chapter, as well as using O*NET (which we discussed in Chapter 4).

How to Set up the Exercise/Instructions: Using O*NET and the “Employee’s Role in Career Management” section in this chapter, analyze your career-related inclinations (you can also take the Self-Directed Search for about $10 at www.self-directed-search .com). Based on this analysis, answer the following questions (if you wish, you may do this analysis in teams of three or four students).

Questions:

10-15: What does your research suggest to you about what would be your preferable occupational options?

10-16: What are the prospects for these occupations?

10-17: Given these prospects and your own occupational inclinations, outline a brief, 1-page career plan for yourself, including current occupational inclinations, career goals, and an action plan listing four or five development steps you will need to take in order to get from where you are now career-wise to where you want to be, based on your career goals.

Video Case Appendix:

Video Title: Employee Engagement (PTC)

Synopsis:

PTC is one of the world’s largest software companies and employee engagement is one of its primary corporate goals. The company strives to appreciate and recognize employees by making sure that their jobs are meaningful and aligned with the company’s corporate goals. PTC offers career development, for instance, in terms of management development, coaching, and team building. A corporate framework allows employees to see where they are in their current job and what they need to do to be in the job they aspire to, creating visible and viable career paths within the organization. In addition, employees receive ongoing feedback from the organization, so the employee is always kept in the information and decision-making loop.

Discussion Questions:

10-18: Based on this video, what is PTC doing to manage employee engagement? What other suggestions would you make for further improving employee engagement?

10-19: To what extent do you think what PTC is doing will improve employee retention and turnover? Why? What else would you suggest they do? Why?

10-20: Do you think based on the video that PTC has an effective career-planning program? Why? What (if anything) would you suggest they do to improve the program?

Video Title: Employee Separation (Gordon Law Group)

Synopsis:

At some point in your career, you may be separated from the company you work for, either by your choice or the company’s choice. Employee separation is, in all simplicity, where an employer and employee separate their relationship. The Gordon Law Group is a law firm that represents employees in all aspects of employment, from the start to the end. This law group strives to help employees understand and negotiate the relationship between themselves and their companies; and if an employee is separated from his or her company, understanding what happens next.

Discussion Questions:

10-21: How would you summarize employees’ top concerns when they’re separated, based on this video? Do you agree with the lawyer?

10-22: Summarize the impact of a termination on the employee.

10-23: What will the employee’s lawyer look at in terms of building “leverage” to get the dismissed employee a better deal?

Application Case: Google Reacts

10-24: Without doing any further research than what you learned in this chapter, what other steps would you suggest Google take to improve employee retention?

Student answers will vary.

10-25: Was there any information in previous chapters of this book that would help to illustrate other steps Google took to improve retention?

 Look for students to pull information from previous chapters (e.g. the selection chapter).

10-26: Use other Internet sources, including Google.com, to finalize an answer to the question. What other steps should Google take to improve employee retention?

Student answers will vary depending on the websites they use.

Continuing Case: Carter Cleaning Company – The Career Planning Program

10-27: What would be the advantages to Carter Cleaning Company of setting up such a career-planning program? 

      Some examples of the advantages of setting up a career planning program for employees include increasing job satisfaction, helping employees navigate through the company, and helping employees think about and plan their careers.

10-28: Who should participate in the program, and why?  All employees? Selected employees?

      Students should justify why they think certain employees should or should not participate in the program.

10-29: Outline and describe the program you would propose for the cleaners, pressers, counter people, and managers at the Carter Cleaning Company. 

Based on the career planning activities discussed in the chapter, students should design a tailored career planning and development program for the employees.

Hotel Paris: Improving Performance at the Hotel Paris – The New Career Management System

10-30: “Many hotel jobs are inherently ‘dead end’—maids, laundry workers, and valets, for instance, either have no great aspirations to move up, or are just using these jobs temporarily, for instance, to help out with household expenses.” First, do you agree with this statement? Why, or why not? Second, list three specific career activities you would recommend Lisa implement for these employees.

There are no dead-end jobs; every job offers an employee the opportunity to be seen and if performing successfully, to be considered for other jobs within the organization.  Some possible career activities include job posting programs, educational assistance, career pathing, job rotation, etc.

10-31: Build on the company’s current performance management system by recommending two other specific career development activities the hotel should implement.

The hotel should use the performance management system to do specific career counseling. First, however, a training program to assist supervisors in how to coach employees should be developed.

10-32: What specific career development activities would you recommend in light of the fact that the Paris hotels and employees are disbursed around the world?

Answers will vary. Discuss the feasibility of expatriation programs in a hotel environment.

Key Terms:

Career - The occupational positions a person has had over many years.

Career Management - The process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career skills and interests, and to use these skills and interests more effectively.

Career Development - The lifelong series of activities that contribute to a person’s career exploration, establishment, success, and fulfillment.

Career planning - The deliberate process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills, interests, knowledge, motivations, and other characteristics and establishes action plans to attain specific goals.

Reality Shock - Results of a period that may occur at the initial career entry when the new employee’s high job expectations confront the reality of a boring, unchallenging job.

Coaching - educating, instructing, and training subordinates.

Mentoring - Formal or informal programs in which mid- and senior-level managers help less experienced employees – for instance, by giving them career advice and helping them navigate political pitfalls.

Promotion - Advancement to a position of increased responsibility.

Transfers - Reassignments to similar (or higher) positions in other parts of the firm.

Dismissal - Involuntary termination of an employee’s employment with the firm.

Insubordination - Willful disregard or disobedience of the boss’s authority or legitimate orders; criticizing the boss in public.

Terminate at Will - In the absence of a contract, either the employer or the employee can terminate at will the employment relationship.

Termination Interview - The interview in which an employee is informed of the fact that he or she has been dismissed.

Outplacement Counseling - A formal process by which a terminated person is trained and counseled in the techniques of self-appraisal and securing a new position.

Exit Interview - Interviews with employees who are leaving the firm, conducted for obtaining information about the job or related matters, to give the employer insight about the company.

Layoff - An employer sending employees home due to a lack of work; this is typically a temporary situation.

Downsizing - The process of reducing, usually dramatically, the number of people employed by a firm.

（中国经济管理大学MBA公益课堂---美华管理人才学校---28年知名管理培训机构）

中国经济管理大学|中国经济管理大学|中国经济管理大学|中国经济管理大学培训|MBA实战|中国经济管理大学|MBA培训|硕士研究生|职业资格|管理培训