Improving retention through a non-financial reward

Having a strong remuneration structure in place is a must for any business as it will underpin any successful retention policy.  However, as the old saying goes “money isn’t everything”.

When working with clients on reviewing their “reward policy”, one of the areas that can be looked at is the dynamic around how people are assessed and managed, for shorthand we call it “You and Your Manager”.

How does looking at this area help your business?  Put simply, in situations where there is higher than market average levels of turnover, one of the root causes will often be that employees and their immediate line manager will not be seeing “eye to eye” for some reason.  A quick search of the internet will find myriads of articles all highlighting that “People leave their boss, not their company”.

Accordingly, if the purpose of “reward” is to motivate and retain your best people, “You and Your Manager” becomes a key element of any reward strategy.

Given that every organisation is set up differently, what would need to be done to improve the situation in any particular business would be a matter for targeted review.  However, in order to help stimulate thinking, we would make the following observations:

• Businesses who get this area right are usually those that create a culture of real openness.
• Good technical ability does not always translate into good people management
• The system you put in place to review performance sets the tone for management relationships in the business.

Given that the current employment market seems to be offering employees scope for movement, we would suggest that getting “You and Your Manager” right has never been more important.

MM&K are well placed to help with any of the issues set out above.  Should you want to have someone help you explore your thinking on this issue, please contact Stuart James in the first instance.

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