In the first study, Kathleen Bentein and her colleagues found that changes in turnover intention were related to actual turnover but that the absolute level of turnover intention was not related to actual turnover. This is a very important finding. It suggests that employers should not rely on turnover intention to warn them that staff are likely to leave. Instead they should focus on changes in turnover intention.
A practical suggestion coming from this study is that it is vital to have regular staff surveys and keep a watchful eye on people's commitment and changes in turnover intention rather than looking at turnover intention alone. It is also clear from this study that an employee's commitment is closely linked to turnover intention. Human Assets stance on commitment is presented in Charles Woodruffe's book, Winning the Talent War. The book stresses the importance of employers giving commitment if they are to receive it and it also looks at other needs that must be met if people are to be retained.
Some of these needs were examined in the second study we are summarizing in this newsletter. Gigi Sutton and Mark Griffin found that job satisfaction was influenced by the quality of supervision, overall job content and pay. Job satisfaction, in turn, is the strongest predictor of turnover intention. They also found a strong relationship between people's experience of supervision and violations in the psychological contract (i.e., the reciprocal promises between employer and employee), which in turn had a strong relationship with job satisfaction.
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Carry out staff surveys to monitor changes in commitment and changes in turnover intention. The surveys would show changes in the overall level of turnover intention and could also ask directly whether people felt more or less likely to leave compared with when they were last surveyed.
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Ensure that supervision is of a high quality. This means:
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Choosing the right people to be supervisors.
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Giving supervisors the right training and development.
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Ensuring that supervisors have the time to do their supervisory job properly. Often in professional firms supervision is squeezed in with the person's 'proper job'. The result is hurried and stressed supervision which will have an impact on the satisfaction and turnover intention of the people who are being supervised.
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Ensure that people's needs in terms of job content and pay are understood and met as far as possible.
We are a professional firm of business psychologists with an expertise in talent management. We can help by:
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Setting the attraction and retention of staff within an overall talent management strategy. The concern of Chief Executives noted at the start is an extraordinarily helpful basis for putting across to directors and managers the case that a strategy for managing talented people is a strategy for business success.
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Designing and administering staff surveys and reporting to you on changes in commitment and turnover intention.
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Giving you a clear message on how well you are meeting the needs of your staff. Our retention tool - RetainCheck - is used to provide a detailed understanding of people's needs and how well they are being met. Based on our experience, we will then advise you on how better to meet the needs of people in order to retain them.
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Designing selection systems for supervisors that pick the people with the attributes for supervision.
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Ensuring that technically able people are only promoted to supervision if they have the right attributes and not because it is the only route to promotion.
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Providing training and coaching to supervisors.
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Carrying out a thorough analysis of the supervisor's role and reporting to you if we feel they are in an impossible position. In particular, we will give you candid advice on whether the supervisor has adequate time to carry out the role properly or whether there is a risk that it is going to be hurried and unsatisfactory for both the supervisor and the person being supervised.
If you would like any further information on retention, please contact our consultants on +44(0)20 7434 2122 or by email at enquiries@humanassets.co.uk
References:
Bentein, K., Vandbenberg, R., Vandbenberghe, C and Stinglhamber, F. The role of change in the relationship between commitment and turnover: a latent growth modelling approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2005, Vol 90 No 3 Pps 468-482.
Sutton, G and Griffin, M. Integrating expectations, experiences, and psychological contract violations: A longitudinal study of new professionals. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2004, Vol 77 Part 4, pps 493 - 514.