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Maintaining staff loyalty
Written by: Renée LeMoine
Photo by: Ivan Malý

Despite the fact that our company offers comprehensive training, and pays well, we still have a large employee turnover. Have you come across any research that might shed some light on this issue?

There is so much research in this field that I couldn't possibly begin to adequately cover it all, but articles that I have referred to over the years can be found on the following websites:
· http://www.psycinfo.com/psycarticles/index.cfm? fuseaction=processSearch&CFID=1330954&CFTOKEN=27316029
· http://www.lexingtonbooks.com/Catalog/SingleBook .shtml?command=Search&db=^db /CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata =066921289X
· http://www.trainingjournal.com
When interviewing potential employees in the past,I would ask why they wanted to leave their current employer. Their answers enabled me to concur that the gap between poor employee motivation and a firm's performance expectation usually fell into four main categories: a manager's ability to shape employees' perception of a firm's appraisal and reward system; the firm's reward system, ambiguous goals and/or lack of clear vision; and employee selection.
Ask your managers whether or not the staff really believes that a good performance appraisal will lead to organizational rewards. Many employees see this as a weak relationship because companies reward behavior besides just performance, like "kissing up to the boss". Obviously when this happens, good employees will find it very demoralizing. Similarly, are the rewards that the staff receive the one's that they want? An employee may work hard in hopes of getting a promotion, but gets a pay raise instead. It's perilous to assume that all employees want the same thing.
Finally, do employees deduce that if they give their best, it will be recognized? In some cases, an employee may suppose that no matter how hard he or she works, the chance of getting a glowing appraisal is low. This could then become a self-fulfilling prophecy that leads to sub-standard performance.

Article prepared by Renée LeMoine, Executive Director, LeMoine & Associates .

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