Employee churn: An unwelcome byproduct of an improved economy.
When the economy improves, agencies often see an increase in staff turnover. Employee churn has been modest over the past 18 months. It’s not just that the jobs haven’t been out there. Our research has shown employees are more cautious about jumping to new opportunities. In tough times, people stick with what they know.
As the economy begins to improve and people feel more optimistic about the future, it’ll be harder to retain great talent. Some employee transition is unavoidable. A spouse gets a residency 1000 miles away. Or a new Mom who decides to stay home full-time.
Then there’s the employee churn you’d like to prevent. In our experience, employees rarely leave for the reasons companies think. It’s not normally money, even though that’s a common excuse. Still with many agencies having cut or held salaries flat, it may be time to reevaluate compensation for top performers.
Occasionally, an employee leaves when there’s a less than ideal relationship with a manager. It’s easy to forget that people work for managers as much as they work for a company.
Still, we find the most common reason employees leave is they’re searching for a new opportunity. They are scratching that itch of doing something new. In the down economy, agencies haven’t seen the same level of new clients or new projects that give agency staff the variety of new assignments they crave. Remember, one of the reasons people work for agencies is for the variety of work assignments.
So how do agencies respond to the challenge of employee churn? I don’t have all the answers but here are three ideas.
- Change up assignments. It may not be possible to change an account lead or a core team member that the client loves, but explore whether you can give people opportunities to work on different clients or projects. It can be as simple as bringing in new team members for client brainstorms or special projects. Or it may be worth exploring whether there are opportunities to make changes on team. Consider that clients might welcome new perspectives.
- Invest more in training and challenge people to take on new skills and responsibilities. We work in a time of great transition in our industry – regulatory changes, technology, globalization. Encourage staff to get training on new areas and bring new ideas and skill sets to their work. Consider creating innovation grants for individuals or teams who have new ideas for your agency.
- Embrace the turnover to promote, cross train or add new energy and skills. As much as we hate to see people move on, departures create opportunities. At Capstrat we never look just to replace an employee. We first ask if their responsibilities can create opportunities for other employees. Personally, many of my best career opportunities came when another employee left. We ask what skills, experience and talent do we need most right now? This approach has enabled us to strengthen our digital team, expand into metrics and analytics, and allow people to move across departments.
These are only three ideas and I’d love welcome others. You can reach me at kalbritton@capstrat.com.
Comments
You can't ignore that one reason why "leaving for new opportunities" is the most common is that it is also the most diplomatic.
...regardless if its true.
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