Organizations that rely solely on compensation to motivate their employees will likely find that this approach produces mixed results when it comes to retention. According HR consultant Leigh Branham, 80-90% of employees leave organizations for reasons other than salary, while nearly 90% of managers think that money is the driving factor for turnover. Clearly, there is a major gap in understanding employee retention.

Building Loyalty through Relationships and Recognition

Often, when your employees trust and feel valued by your company, your customers feel the same. The quality of your customer service is strongly tied to your employee engagement program, allowing your organization to implement both initiatives simultaneously.

A survey released by Boston Consulting Group polled over 200,000 employees worldwide to put together a list of job happiness factors. Appreciation for their work topped the list, followed by good relationships with coworkers. An attractive fixed salary was much further down the list, coming in at number eight, behind job security and before interesting job content.

Fostering Employee Retention with Quality Leadership

If an organization is suffering from a retention problem, one of the first places leadership should look to find the cause is not the pay rate, but the immediate supervisor. FurstPerson research illustrates that while salary is important, it takes a back seat to "personal reasons" in terms of reasons cited by employees who leave an organization of their own accord. The same research identifies a link between employee retention rate and management tenure, indicating a manager’s ability to foster a great organizational culture directly impacts their organization’s retention rate.  

In fact, the research illustrates that leaders stay longer tend to have lower agent attrition rates.  Directors with five or more years of tenure reported average monthly attrition rates that are 247% lower than directors with less than two years of tenure.

In other words, organizations such as contact centers looking to reduce agent attrition should invest in initiatives to retain quality leaders who will provide an added level of stability and support to agents in addition to agent hiring and retention programs.

Development, Well-Being and a Healthy Workplace Culture

Enhancing your market position begins and ends by establishing a positive emotional connection wth your customers. But if your workforce doesn't feel valued by your company, your customers won't feel happy and pleased with their service.

One survery conducted by Virgin Pulse revealed that while finances certainly play a role in employee retention, for most, an employer’s commitment to helping them maintain good physical, mental and social health was more important in driving happiness and satisfaction among the workforce than their role in supporting their financial stability.

Additionally, a recent Harvard Business Review article by Monika Hamori, Jie Cao and Burak Koyuncu concluded many top performers simply aren't getting the development they want from their employers, arguing this dissatisfaction seems to cause a number of early exits:

“Workers reported that companies generally satisfy their needs for on-the-job development and that they value these opportunities, which include high-visibility positions and significant increases in responsibility.   But they’re not getting much in the way of formal development, such as training, mentoring and coaching – things they also value highly.”

It is sentiments like this that have begun to get the attention of an increasing number of businesses. The 2015/2016 Willis Towers Watson Staying@Work Survey found 64% of employers reported that by 2018, their focus will be on developing workplace cultures that boost health and employee engagement.

Improving Your Employee Retention Rate Starts with the Hiring Process

While salary does play a role in an employee’s relationship with the organization that they work for, it is just one piece of the motivational puzzle. 

Finding workers who are likely to become engaged and remain loyal to an organization begins long before the onboarding process, or the first day of work - it begins with the talent acquisition process. From top performers to future leaders responsible for developing your front-line workers, data-driven hiring tools allow organizations to find, hire, and keep workeres witht the highest likelihood of contributing to the company's vision and goals.

However, fewer than 40% of hiring teams use any type of formal pre-hire assessment process to deteremine whether or not a candidate's skills, motivations, and abilities will be a good fit for the role and the company. 

Creating a healthy culture - one of engagement and loyalty - means designing and implementing a talent acquisition strategy that aligns an organization’s values and goals with the skillset and values of the candidate. While companies should do their part in fostering a healthy workplace, if a candidate's skills and values do not match those required for success in the role, he or she likely won't experience success in the position.