The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, CA, reached out to Phil this week to discuss the problem of employee retention.
The problem was summarized by a quote from Andre Lavoie, CEO of talent management firm ClearCompany:
“With so many employees looking to leave their current position for one that better suits their needs, it’s clear that employers aren’t taking enough time to get to know individual employee needs, interests and goals.”
Phil provided additional clarity:
“Retention is always a challenge, but the simple fact is that employees don’t leave companies – they leave managers,” said Wilson, explaining that if an organization is experiencing a high turnover rate, it is likely that their leadership team is failing in one way or another.
“More often than not, that failure can be pinpointed to one area — employee engagement,” Wilson said. “Disengaged employees feel unappreciated, and even worse, not respected.
“Most people know what they are capable of and they know when their leaders don’t acknowledge it,” he adds. “Nobody wants to spend 40 hours a week in that kind of environment – and they shouldn’t.”
Wilson described the key to improving engagement and thus retention as being the approachability of the leader.
