Step #5: Retain Your DNA
How Do We Keep Them?
It is impossible to summarize in a few short paragraphs everything you need to do to retain your best people. But here are some practical tips that will get you started down the right path toward retention excellence.
1. Leverage your DNA Interview. From the responses gleaned in your DNA Interview of top employees, take initiative to boost the reasons your best people stay and eliminate or diminish the reasons they leave. Start now!
2. Think 2x. Retention does not mean forever. Great retention is keeping an employee twice as long as the industry average in your community for that position–hence 2x. If the average length of employment for a lumber puller is 18 months, then focus on how to keep them for 36 months. The additional productivity, service, and profit you will gain during the second 18 months far surpasses what you can expect with a new hire who must be trained and coached.
3. Focus on total compensation. Base pay is just one of the financial rewards of working for your company. Communicate to everyone (including management) the value of their total compensation package–including health insurance, vacation days, and bonuses. If the total compensation package is solid, knowledge of its true value often can stop unwanted turnover of top talent based solely on a higher hourly wage somewhere else.
4. Training. One of the top reasons most great employees join a company is the prospect of personal and professional growth. LBM groups are now embracing how training and educating employees is not a cost but an investment, an investment that often leads to longer employee tenure at the firm. Most employees are far more motivated to stay with a company that helps them stay employable than they are to jump ship for a few extra dollars.
One company that has taken this philosophy to heart is Raymond Building Supply in North Ft. Myers, Fla., the 2001 PROSALES Dealer of the Year. Over the last two years, I have assisted president Charlie Babb in a comprehensive management training process that now has his company transformed into a total employee-learning environment that includes both mandatory training and year-end reviews of training progress. As Charlie recently told me, “Jim, today you’ve got to keep your people trained, mentored, and coached so that they understand how all the pieces fit and their unique role in our overall success. It’s the best way to get them thinking like an owner!”
Sometimes owners tell me, “If we train them, they’ll just leave.” I usually reply, “Occasionally, that’s true. So would you rather keep them employed with you and stupid?” Top talent will not remain with a company that does not invest in their development–period!
Finding and keeping top talent today is all about DNA–bringing in employees with the right DNA and helping the corporate gene pool advance by helping all of them hone their skills. Through integrating this five-step model into your talent strategies, you will better position your LBM company to both attract and retain the right kinds of employees you need to achieve great results.
Dr. Jim Harris is an adviser to building supply companies in business, leadership, and people development. He can be reached by calling 877.638.7733 or by e-mail at jim@drjimharris.com.