According to a new survey titled Jobseeker Nation 2010, two-thirds of employed Americans are actively looking for a new position or open to changing jobs. John Hollon discusses the results of this survey onTLNT.com and how organizations should be concerned with employee loyalty and engagement in the coming year. Why are so many people actively seeking new positions?
A November 2010 Salary.com article by Dan Malachowski lists out the top ten reasons people are leaving companies. Over thirty three percent of respondents listed insufficient recognition in the top three reasons for quitting. Malachowski points out that starting an employee recognition program can go a long way in improving employee job satisfaction. Back in 2008, Salary.com conducted a similar job satisfaction and retention survey, finding only seventeen percent of employees left a job because of a lack of recognition.
More employees are quitting jobs now because of the lack of employee appreciation and recognition despite the fact that more positions were available in the pre-recession era. This is a curious predicament for employers now tasked with tracking employee retention and its impact on the bottom line. As a manager recently mentioned to me, how can a Human Resources manager justify the cost of an employee retention program when employees are not listed on a company’s balance sheet?
Thomas O. Davenport brought up this exact point on TLNT.com last month of what employees are if they are not assets. Davenport explains employees are the owners of the asset called human capital which is defined as encompassing the knowledge, skills, talents and behaviors of the workforce. He tasks managers with the fundamental goal of improving human capital in order to measure a return on human capital investment. Managers improve human capital through financial compensation such as pay and benefits and non-financial rewards such as employee recognition.
When one measures the impact of improving human capital, great possibilities arise. APeoplePerformance.org white paper from last year discussed research on the return on investment of employee recognition programs that provided both recognition and rewards. Based on research in the paper, companies able to use employee recognition to reduce turnover:
• Were more profitable
• Had better customer selection and customer retention
• Produced more customer referrals
• Achieved higher levels of employee motivation
As this post discusses, recently published research is answering pertinent questions, showing theimportance of recognition to employees and how employee recognition can greatly impact an organization. Employee recognition programs are vital to retaining employees and increasing the value of your company’s human capital in the coming year. You can effectively increase employee loyalty by addressing the need for employee recognition and implementing a recognition program.