Page 59 - Retaining Top Employees

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Envisioning Your Retention Strategy 47

Whatever it is, you will want to identify that impact and incorpo-
rate it into your retention strategy for maximum effect.
Map the Targeted Employee Groups and Their
Operational Impact
At this stage, it’s probably a good idea to produce a table sum-
marizing what you’ve identified so far. The format isn’t crucial;
what’s important is that you record your findings in a way that
makes sense to you. Figure 3-1 shows an example of what you
might produce.
Target Employee Why We Want to
How Identified
or Group Retain Them
R&D Scientists Discussion with VP R&D Loss of institutional
Grade VII (dream diary) knowledge
Senior Tax Large expenditures in last Dissatisfied clients
Managers year on recruiting and
training (follow the money)
Greg Doitall, Assis- Constant reminders from
?
tant to the CEO CEO (squeaky wheel)
In-House Attorney Haven't had one for six
?
months (obvious gap)
Figure 3-1. Table for gathering data

Take a shot at what might be put in the “Why We Want to
Retain Them” column for the two final entries, then use the
blank rows to jot down your initial thoughts on what employee
groups are key, how you know they’re key, and what their main
operational impact might be.

What Do You Need to Do to Retain the
Targeted Employees?
We’ve now arrived at the third step in envisioning your employ-
ee retention strategy. You’ve identified who you want to retain
and why you want to retain them. Now it’s time to find out why
there’s a retention problem.