Page 39 - Retaining Top Employees

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The Secret’s in the Swing 27

Think Velcro, Not Erector
Employer-employee relationships used to be like those Erector
sets from Meccano, that great stuff we played with as kids—
metal girders, gears, bolts and nuts, screwdrivers—solid, struc-
tural things that clanged when you touched them. The “status
quo” relationship meant that employees were attached to the
company and to each other, forming a sort of semi-permanent
structure.
In the world of increased job mobility, employer-employee
relationships are more like Velcro—easy on, easy off. In devel-
oping your retention mindset, it’s vital that you learn to look at
employer-employee relationships in this way: pliable, supple,
and reusable.

Don’t Get Hung Up on Strategies

After developing a retention mindset and accepting that
employee mobility is here to stay, the second perception
change that’s needed is in regard to the retention strategy
you’re going to design by working through this book.
The perception change is this: your retention strategy is the
vehicle, not the destination.
A strategy will not of itself make any sustainable difference
in retention in the long term. What will make a difference is not
the strategy, but the changes that it makes in your organization.
When did you last hear someone say, “The reason I stayed
with this company is because they have a great retention strate-
gy”? In fact, when was the last time you heard anyone in a rela-
tionship of any kind (and employment is a relationship at heart)
say that he or she stayed in the relationship because the other
party had a great retention strategy? If your best friend told you,
“I’ve held onto my significant other by using a retention strate-
gy,” what would you think of your friend? People stay with peo-
ple because of who they are—not because of any “strategy.”
It’s no different in the employer-employee relationship—peo-
ple stay with an organization because of what the organization
is, not because of any strategy it may have.