Celebrate the 99 Sheep (A Work-Related Post)

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. -- Luke 15:3-7

One time when I heard this, I began to think of the 99 sheep who weren't lost.  While the shepherd was off looking for the lost sheep, who was making sure they were safe, cared for and protected from predators. I know there might be some answers to that (the design of the pen, other shepherds, how long the shepherd was actually gone, sheepdogs, etc.), but I also realized this is an HR problem.

In a lot of my experience, a lot of effort is made to find and recruit for an open headcount, but much less is done to actually keep the employees once they're onboard. There are sayings like "Date your wife" or "Don't stop courting just because you're married." and again, those same things can apply in the workplace -- I think too many employers think that because they've given you a job and now they give you a paycheck, they don't actually have to do much to keep you.  

Sure, perhaps there's a nice assortment of snacks and once a year they tell you all you're doing wrong, to soften you up before they give you a raise less than the rise inflation over the past year. 

And then they're shocked, surprised, disappointed when you leave. You might even get some Exit Interview theater, but only the myopic really think that's a useful time to tell them why you left - there should have been opportunities while you were still there to indicate if there's anything wrong, anything that could be better.

But I've rarely seen any cases where companies ask "Why are you staying?"  What are we doing right?  What could be improve? What business opportunities are we missing? How could we be doing better for our customers?  If you were CEO for a day, what would you change? 

Why aren't the 99 leaving? Are they staying for the right reasons? And the ones that leave, are they the right ones to leave or the wrong ones? Do you even know?

I think that employee retention is probably one of the things most companies do poorly because they've never had to. But in the midst of The Great Reshuffle, every good employee you retain is one less new employee to find a recruit.

And why is retention better than recruiting?

• Lost opportunity cost. The work the employee was doing before they left is slowed or paused until their replacement is found.
• Lost opportunity cost. The teammates and hiring manager are spending time in interviews instead of the work they had planned. They're also picking up the slack from the open headcount.
• Knowledge loss. The best documentation in the world rarely gives you the full picture on how and will fail on the why. New teammates mean new opportunities to think differently, but if you embark on the new only because you don't understand the old, you may repeat past mistakes or throw out the good with the bad.
• Disruption and Morale. The loss of a teammate is disappointing and may cause others to re-evaluate their own place in the company, especially if the extra work gets dumped on them.
• Dissatisfaction. If someone's only staying for the paycheck, their work will decline over time. If the only reason you're keeping them is because it's one less headcount to keep, that's a loss for them and the company.

As cool as free hoodies are, retention isn't all about free swag, it's about making sure each employee knows why they are vital and valuable to the company, that they know how their contributions matter, and that they feel like they have a future they can be excited about.  Some people will seek this out on their own, some people are naturally motivated, but others need to be led. It's not that they don't care, but when they've got their head down in the work, it may not naturally occur to them.  

Let's do more to celebrate those that stay and make them want to stay even more. (Because, heck, someone who loves their job and loves their culture are also really great recruiting assets.)