Creating an environment conducive to staff retention in today's ever changing market place is not as difficult as it may seem. It involves several factors that, when properly applied, will attract and retain the right staff for your organisation.

Understanding staff retention means delving into the deeper mysteries of management. It also means asking the questions "Why would someone want to work here? Why would they want to continue to work here?" It means looking at yourself and your business through the eyes of the employee or, as we say in Scotland:

 "O the gift that god would GIVE" us to see ourselves as others see us."

It will probably also mean revisiting your basic business philosophies and business skills.

A work environment that attracts, keeps and motivates the workforce is one that gives employees a sense of PRIDE AND PURPOSE in what they do.

Leaders on all levels have the sole responsibility for creating this work environment. They have to provide the leadership that holds everything together. Leaders can improve motivation within their organisations by creating an environment that results in a sense of individual and team pride.

Pride – a powerful emotion which, if applied in the workplace, can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Now let us look at the world pride as an anachronism then transform it into a working model. There are five points to the P.R.I.D.E. model.

P – provide a positive working environment:

Providing a positive working environment pays off financially.

Most employers do not know how much turnover is costing them. Any organisation experiencing high turnover faces financial crisis. It costs anything from $8000 to $35000 to recruit, hire and train a new employee, depending on his/her skill level. Not to mention the incremental drop in productivity and morale of those who remain, as well as the massive cost incurred due to the loss of knowledge and intellectual property.
In an effort to arrest valuable staff turnover, there are many incentives or "golden handcuffs" that can be introduced. For example, many businesses are now providing more family friendly benefits. The families and work institute released the business work life study. It provides a benchmark to corporate work / life practices. The study focused on organisations that employ one hundred or more workers.

90% of the one thousand companies surveyed allow workers to take time off to attend school events.

50% let workers stay home with mildly ill children without using a vacation or sick days.

66% permit flexi-time, allowing employees to adjust hours on a daily basis.

9% offer child care at or near the work place.

33% offer elder care resources and referral services; and

50% provide dependant care assistance plans.

44% hold supervisors accountable for sensitivity to their employees' work / family needs.

I have no doubt that there are the cynics amongst us here today who may question the high cost of turnover. I offer as support the words of Bill Gates who summed up the cost of losing valuable employees beautifully when he said…

"Take our twenty best people away and I can tell you that Microsoft would become an unimportant company" .

The second letter in the pride model is "R".

R – recognize, reinforce and reward everyone's efforts:

Mark Twain said: "I can live for two months on a good compliment".

Money may attract people to the front door but something else has to keep them from going out the back.

Another survey showed the number one reason people quit their jobs was because of a lack of recognition and praise. Compensation fell into second place. Nothing can replace personal recognition and sincere appreciation. It is a powerful tool for keeping good employees. The following facts summarize the impact recognition has on the workforce.

• Behaviours recognized reinforces those same behaviours.
• Effective recognition must be timely and sincere.
• Little things can mean a lot.
• Recognition by one's peers is more powerful than by supervisors.

To digress a tad from the PRIDE model, building a motivating reward and recognition system is called the "fast fun" formula.

F: focus on the behaviours you want to reward.
A: avoid bureaucratic judging and committees.
S: simplicity; do not make your program too complicated or formal.
T: team ownership; let the employees run it and own it.

And most importantly the F word……!!!

F: FUN.

Make it fun, entertaining and as spontaneous as possible.

Now let us return to the third step in the pride model.

I – involve EVERYBODY:

Studies show that having employees involved at all levels has a major impact on improving profit and productivity. Results have shown that this can result in up to a fifty percent reduction in turnover.

The fourth step in the model.

D – development of potential, be creative:

The German poet Goeta said: "treat people as though they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of being".

Well trained employees are more capable and willing to assume more control over their jobs. They need less supervision which frees management for other jobs. Employees are thus empowered to take care of business which builds confidence and loyalty. All this leads to better management / employee relationships.

The fifth letter in the pride model is:

 E – evaluate and measure continuously:

Continuous evaluation and never ending improvements is the final step of the PRIDE model; an obvious way to keep and motivate your employees is to hire the right person in the first place. Hiring the wrong person spells havoc for everyone. Hiring the right person saves everyone a lot of headaches. An important point is that you must go beyond the basic interview and find out more about the candidate in order to establish if there will be a good environmental and cultural match between them and the organisation. Face to face interviews are not enough to warrant selection. Anyone can put on a good show at interview.  With the imminent introduction of privacy legislation you may well ask are there valid and legal ways to screen out mismatches before you hire them?
Recent research completed shows that 29% of companies are now conducting personality assessments on all job applicants.  This is approximately a 20% increase over previous years and is definitely a growing trend.  These assessments can show you if the person is dependable and responsible. They can also evaluate the likelihood of this person sticking around for more than three months.  The customer service scale will indicate if this person is courteous, enthusiastic and has tolerance.

It is not enough to be prudent with your hiring practices. It is arguable even more critical to evaluate why good people leave your organisation. You must then demonstrate that exit interviews are valuable tools and that you have actually listened.  This sends a very strong message to loyal employees.

In summary, let me recap and once again reveal the key to the pride model, and what it really means to the individual, the team and consequently the organisation.  Here is the magic potion:

• P  rovide a positive work environment
• R ecognise, reinforce and reward everyone's efforts
• I   nvolve everyone
• D evelop potential – be creative
• E  valuate and measure continuously

I will leave you, as I must, with the magic words of the most famous Scottish poet and philosopher, Rabbie Burns (The Bard, as he is known in Scotland).

"Seize the moments as they fly
and use them as ye ought man,
the road happiness is shy
and comes no aye when sought man." 

I urge you to "Seize the moment" and build an atmosphere based on P.R.I.D.E.

Then sit back and enjoy the FUN!