Tactics to red uce the outflow of employees

Written by: Philippe Riboton
Photo by: Tomáš Kubeš

Markéta Main
HR manager, Deloitte & Touche

The departure of key people may mean lost productivity in the vacant position, sets an example for other personnel to also leave, causes inconvenience, may mean the loss of client contacts, and strengthens competitors if former employees are lured away by them.
What are the general factors affecting employees who are thinking about leaving?
· The employee’s relationship with his or her supervisor or manager
· The balance of professional versus home life
· A feeling of making a difference in the organization
· The level of cooperation with co-workers and belonging to a team
· Opportunities for growth and advancement
· The quality of the compensation package
What does Deloitte & Touche do to retain its employees?
· Effective recruitment processes
· Conducts exit interviews
· Pays special attention to openness of communication between management employees
· Performance evaluation process every six months
· “Recognition” awards (including rewards for sales successes, and performance awards and bonuses)
· Special consideration of the work-life balance (flexible working arrangements, various study and unpaid leave periods, and bonus vacation days).

Helmut Fabry
General manager, L’Oréal

Achieving our goals is impossible without the participation, support and commitment of our staff. Everyday tasks involve international contacts with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. L’Oréal is looking for people who are “head in the clouds, feet on the ground”. People who are creative, entrepreneurial and international, with the development potential to assume greater responsibilities in the future.
After a first successful experience, executives get the opportunity to develop rapidly, with international skills. The diversity of the brands, the distribution channels and the presence in 150 countries enable L’Oréal to offer new challenges, fast access to responsibilities and interesting careers in the long term.
The regular contact with the top management and a tailor-made approach to training help executives build the competences needed to face their challenges.
Does it work? Roughly 20% of the managers changed functions in the past year. Nearly 50% of the general managers in the Group are less than 40 years old. 60% of our general managers have been in the Group for more than 10 years.

Alena Wollerová
Head of personnel department, Česká spořitelna

Adequate basic salaries, variable wage components, and an interesting range of benefits, etc. My experience during the two years that Česká spořitelna underwent its transformation, say all of this is important. But this “basic” package must be expanded to include factors that have taken on new dimensions in recent years. They include the company’s stability, its culture, the employer’s prestige, and experience-sharing.
In recent months, we verified the importance of motivating employees by enabling them to participate in the company’s development. While applying this principle, employees naturally recognize whether the company that employs them meets, and can meet in the future, their expectations.
If the employees do need to seek out different experience, they leave. There is thus an exchange of work and experience, as well as an increase in the number of satisfied employees. These employees are fairly evaluated, motivated and rewarded, and at the same time, they acquire new experience and better identification and knowledge of their firm. And they are justifiably proud of it.

Henrik Thor
Chief financial officer, Contactel

Contactel is a dynamic and modern telecommunications operator that from the very beginning has been paying attention to the retention of its key talents.
To retain your key employees, you must provide more than just financial compensation. Corporate culture, working environment and teamwork mixed with effective leadership and a solid business plan make Contactel a great place to work.
Contactel’s corporate culture is based on open communication, personal recognition, challenge and encouragement. We give the best employees the opportunity to participate in educational programmes, advanced training and in the Management Talent Pool of our mother company TDC. This gives them the opportunity to learn and grow with the future perspective to work for a TDC family.
One of the important elements that increases our employees’ loyalty is the option to work from home. Among the benefits it brings to the company the most notable are higher productivity and cost-savings.
The other tactics we use include creation of opportunities for employees to come together informally with the management, building trust through open and honest communication, and rewarding high performance and innovation.