Employee Retention Goals and Objectives

They need to run special and expensive processes to train and onboard new employees; they have high recruitment costs and their brand name on the job market is not great. How should Human Resources set right goals and objectives in the area of the retention of employees?

The high-performance company focused on innovative services and products cannot tolerate high turnover of employees. The organization develops the know-how and teaches employees the corporate culture. It invests in the development of the sustainable competitive advantage. The low retention of employees undermines the effort of the leadership team to make the company lean, profitable and agile. For a reference, see Employee Turnover.

The retention of staff is a mission critical responsibility of Human Resources. It is accountable for the development, management and update of different retention policies, procedures, and processes. HR has to provide the line management with right tools to retain employees. It has to design flexible schemes allowing to react to changed conditions. It is the manager who can influence the employee, but Human Resources has to deliver tools to make promises working.

Human Resources should set retention goals and objectives in following areas:

retention strategy design and update;
retention plans design;
employee nominations and approvals;
measurement and changes introduced.

The retention strategy is a core driver for the retention policy in the company. The leadership team is the owner of the document, and Human Resources has to measure the progress, failures, and successes. Human Resources cannot be the owner of the strategy because it is the leadership team who needs to protect and retain employees. The team has to carry costs. However, they want proposals from Human Resources; they need the proper market mapping and regular evaluation of best practices available. This is the right goal for HR.

An excellent retention plan is always a critical success factor. Human Resources cannot develop just one plan because each group of employees has different needs and requirements. HR should always design at least two or three alternatives the employee can choose from. However, HR should also prepare several levels of programs so that the employee can earn a higher retention status. HR should construct plans together with managers and employees. The leadership team has to approve them. This is the goal for Human Resources.

The retention program is based on nominations and a limited number of seats. Human Resources has to design and manage the appointment program that is fair and gives balanced chances to all line managers. There should be an explicit list of key job roles and just employees from the list should be allowed to enter the program. However, the leadership team should receive several wildcards to include other key employees. However, rules should be known to everyone in the organization. HR is a gatekeeper, and it has to play the role fair.

Finally, the retention program has to be measured. HR has to measure the performance of the retention plan. HR has to measure a difference in the turnover, the development of the attrition and the satisfaction of employees in the program. HR has to make sure that the retention strategy has a real impact on the business performance.