Page 168 - Retaining Top Employees

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156 Retaining Top Employees

Reality Check
For less experienced,entry-level employees,the 90-day reality
check can be fairly fundamental; it often involves a major realign-
ment of their expectations and goals. On the other hand,a 90-day reali-
ty check with more experienced employees is often more of a ques-
tion of nuance,since they’re less likely to have come into the job with
wildly unrealistic expectations (although it happens!). Nonetheless,this
process is still very important. If you’re dealing with employees who are
at the top of their game,even the smallest tweak of their attitude,
commitment,and goals can produce substantial changes in their per-
formance,their sense of “being at home,” and therefore their retention.
Most new employees (at any level) take an expectation
“dip” about 90 days into their new job. This is usually for two
reasons:
1. Their expectations were unrealistically high.
2. The effort of learning associated with the new job—clarify-
ing the job description, learning the acronyms, getting to
know the people—tends to exert a gravitational pull on
motivation and commitment.
You can materially reduce the impact of point 1 through the
dialogue activity outlined above and point 2 through the accli-
mation and integration activities.
Even so, when your new employee has been on the job
about 90 days, it’s important to discuss specifically his or her
short- and long-term expectations, gently helping the employee
realign those expectations with the reality that he or she has
experienced.

Setting Goals

With each new employee, you’ll begin a process that will be
repeated many times throughout that person’s career with the
organization and that has a major impact on the retention of
any employee, especially top performers—setting goals.
Top employees live and die by goals. They strive to excel and
need clearly established goals against which to measure their