This employee retention expert recently read a WSJ article about how Charles Schwab has been struggling with certain aspects of their business. All businesses struggle at times.  This employee retention author has seen it countless times and experienced it himself during my time as an HR leader.  Oftentimes, these organizations create more problems for themselves because of how they communicate with employees.  If done improperly, you can generate fear, confusion and destroy trust.  These three elements can destroy your employee retention and destabilize your workforce.&nbs ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert was working with a client who had a major problem.  They would hire people, the people would accept the offer and then never show up on the first day of work.  They were then complaining about the younger generations having no work ethic etc. etc. etc.  I just chuckled and explained that I had this phenomenon happen to me in the ‘90s.  Yep…back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and e mail was just coming into existence.  Fortunately, at the time, we were working with a world-class consultant who told me someth ..read more

This last week, this employee retention speaker and employee recruitment expert was at the hospital to visit a friend, it happened that as I was riding up to the appropriate floor, I was on the elevator with an employee who was pushing an empty wheelchair to pick up a patient.  We got talking.  One thing led to another and the employee complained that her boss had no idea about how strenuous her job was.  She mentioned that her boss never did a “walk around” with her or pushed a wheelchair with a person riding it.  What she meant is her boss had no understanding of what it ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert believes in being proactive with employee retention rather than waiting for talent to be out the door before taking any action.  Unfortunately, that is not the way most organizations handle employee turnover…they react!  That’s where stay interviews come in.  the key to stay interviews is you have to get the employee you are speaking with to open up.  This employee recruitment expert has found the best way to do that is to ask, “Aside from money…why do you stay here?”  I like asking it this way because often ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert was running errands just recently.  I decided to stop at my favorite family-run Cuban restaurant to get a sandwich.  What I saw posted on the door was a sign that said, “Temporarily Closed.”  Being naturally curious this employee recruitment expert stopped in the shop next to the restaurant and asked the owner what was going on.  He proceeded to tell me that one of the sons was sick and another nephew who works in the restaurant had to be gone for a while.  The owner, who is the mom, couldn’t find any help t ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention author remembers having to write policies…and job descriptions…when I was an HR Leader in industry.  It was one of those mind-numbing tasks that simply drove this employee retention expert crazy.  That’s why I am amazed when I see an organization that seems to have a policy for EVERYTHING!  Recently, a colleague who I know was telling me the organization he works for just wrote a cell phone usage policy.  Why?  Because a few people had been abusing the use of cell phones on the job. It drove my colleague nuts becau ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert is rarely shocked by some of the crazy things I hear.  However, yesterday, I was sitting in Starbucks and two young women were sitting next to me and they began talking about work.  Based on their conversation, it became apparent that both worked in the healthcare industry.  One woman mentioned that she was “on call” this upcoming weekend and it would restrict her from being too far away in case she was called in she would need to get to the hospital in a timely manner.  When this was brought up, the other woman ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert was very curious as to how the GM handled the situation because we had discussed this when I conducted C.R.A.P. Leadership® Training for their team.  His initial reaction was to lash out at the employee.  After all, the employee was coming in to discuss a problem he had not been able to solve and wanted to get the GM’s help solving it.  You would think that in this case the person would be respectful to the GM.  Instead, he was the opposite. Upon entering the office, he immediately became somewhat belligerent and ..read more

My colleague told their co-worker to “talk to HR.”  The co-worker’s response was…”HR Who?”  This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert was shocked when I heard that comment.  That being said, I have heard comments like this time and time again recently.  People don’t know the people in HR, they never see the people in HR and the people in HR are not accessible!  And we wonder why people are disengaged.  This sends the message that, frankly, people are not terribly important to the organization when they have no contact with the people who are su ..read more

This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert has personally experienced corporate buy outs as a former HR Leader.  I have also seen this as an employee retention expert.  Employees observe these happenings and wonder if the new owners know what the hell they are doing.  Recently, I talked with the insect guy who came in to do my quarterly bug inspection.  In his case, it was the opposite of what often happens.  He commented that, “The new owners haven’t made massive changes…that’s why I’m still here.”  Senior leadership often doesn’t understand th ..read more