Employee Engagement
/I was chatting with a colleague recently. She had just quit a job at a law firm because the boss was crazy and horrible to work with. She also commented that there is “complete turnover in the firm every year.”
That got me to thinking. What does THAT cost?
Aside from a happier workplace with more innovation and the tribal knowledge that accumulates when employees actually stay with a company, does it save money to keep employees?
Yes, it does. Let’s read from the Wall Street Journal:
“Integrated reporting is in its early stages in the U.S., but German software giant SAP AG released its first full integrated report in March, combining traditional accounting benchmarks with newer metrics on things like greenhouse-gas emissions, research and development “intensity” and staff turnover.
SAP reported, for example, that its operating profit is helped or hurt by about €62 million, or more than $80 million, by each percentage-point change in its employee retention rate.
‘There’s a lot of support for meaningful and robust HR metrics for use inside organizations,’ says Timothy Bartl, of the HR Policy Association.”
(Apples, Oranges and Outliers, Emily Chasun, Wall Street Journal, Jun 4, 2013.)
So, buried in this article about FASB and reporting metrics is a bombshell about how important employee retention can be to the bottom line.
Why aren’t we doing everything we can to keep the people we have? Employee engagement is critical – not just in soft, unproven areas, but to profitability.
What could help the beleaguered law firm?
- Leadership skills training
- Communication and listening skills training
- Team building
- Creating an atmosphere of fun
- Celebrating victories
- Altering a culture of blame for mistakes
Applied Improvisation could help with all of that. If only they knew to ask…
Is there a company that you know could use this help?
