Understanding Intangibles is the Key

The cost of replacing a team member is 50-150% of the salary of the departing team member. In fact, an international study conducted by Taco Bell last year found that their outlets with the lowest employee turnover produced up to 50% more in sales. 

Shortages in skilled labor have begun to put applicants in the driver's seat. Employers have turned into pursuers in the race for talent and low turnover. The hunter has become the hunted, and the result is that workers are becoming ever more certain and demanding about what they want from the work experience. Make no mistake - they will leave you to find it elsewhere. The good news is that if you take the time to understand the expectations most often desired by team members, you'll have the greatest tools for attracting and retaining great talent. 

What are the top five most desired intangibles? According to an annual study conducted by international consultant firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide, here are some secrets you should know:

1.  Be proactive in offering a better work/life balance

Time spent on the job in a given year has increased by 163 hours in the last 20 years. That's roughly one month per year; while leisure has declined by one third! Undoubtedly, this is why over the past seven years, the amount of salary and number of work hours that workers say they're willing to give up to achieve a work/life balance has doubled. And 55% of 18- to 34-year-olds identify the freedom to take extended leaves or sabbaticals as a key workplace benefit. 

Companies have found they can increase productivity, revenue, or both by 20% simply by implementing a work/life balance program for staff. Likewise, it's possible to reduce turnover by as much as 50 % by introducing any of the following: dependent care leave, childcare subsidies, eldercare programs, counseling and referral, and flexible working hours. 

2.  Promote the sense of a deeper cause 

Today's workers yearn to be motivated by more than the company's bottom line. Companies that try to be good corporate citizens, or rewrite their mission statements to incorporate the sense of a deeper cause, have an edge. Even more effective is allowing team members to do volunteer work on company time, and even company budget. And then there are the two tried-and-true approaches: matching employees' charitable donations and recognizing service above and beyond the call of duty. Interestingly, when faced with a choice of making more money or earning "enough" doing work that makes the world a better place, 86 % of today's workers will chose the latter. 

The corporate manifestation of a noble cause can take many forms, from reworking mission statements to airing videos that capture customers testifying about how important the company's service is to them. "Going green" is yet another. Fairmont Hotels, for example, has had an extensive recycling program on its premises for some time. A maid who recently explained how much extra time it took to sort the recycling properly added proudly, "Doing the recycling is the most important part of my job and makes me feel like I did something important in my day." 

3. Offer the chance for professional growth and development

Today’s workers seek both personal and professional nourishment. Career building skills are the new security, and companies that fail to provide them lose out. The most successful information technology companies spend 7 to 10 percent of their payroll on training, compared with the standard two to three percent. Mentoring is also becoming ever more popular, not only because it is often more effective than training (up to 70 percent of knowledge is obtained informally on the job), but because it can help revitalize older workforce members matched with younger employees.

A recent Gallup poll named the lack of opportunities to learn and grow as one of the top three reasons for team member dissatisfaction. Kinko's, the world’s largest printing and photocopying chain, is taking such information to heart and has implemented a training program giving workers a training path and sense of career. The result? Turnover dropped from 78 to 50 percent.

4. Treat employees more like partners

While many business owners believe that they don’t adhere to a formal company hierarchy, team members beg to differ. Watson Wyatt’s survey indicated that 61 percent of senior managers feel they treat employees as valued business partners, while only 27 percent of employees share that opinion. The reality is that workers today are no longer satisfied with empowerment; they want a sense of ownership. This concept entails the following five distinct traits:

5. Offer community in the workplace

The traditional pillars of community -- church, extended family and neighborhoods -- are being squeezed out by longer work hours, smaller families, later marriage, mobility and consumerism. Meanwhile, technology, flexible work hours and contract work have cut back how many people are gathering for chats at the water cooler. People are reaching out for a sense that their company is a caring place that provides a sense of deep community. They want to know they are cared about because of the hectic pace of their lives. Workplaces that accept the role of community building more proactively by creating more opportunity for interaction will experience higher retention. 

How do you create community?