PPB July 2019

them of openings within the company. By taking this action, the company estimates they successfully retained 300 employees and saved $75 - $100 million in recruiting and training costs. 3 Start thinking—and communicating—total compensation. Most organizations don’t do a good job of thinking about and communicating total compensation to employees. A typical total benefits package is worth 30 to 35 percent of base salary, and a robust package may be worth almost 50 percent. Add in incentive and profit-sharing plans, and your total compensation package may actually exceed that of your competitors. Make sure your employees understand that. And just like it’s possible to create a customized benefits package for a potential new hire, offerings like an extra week of paid vacation or an increased contribution to health insurance can be useful tools for retaining an employee you don’t want to lose. 4 Restructure jobs. If you’re balking at giving each of your customer service reps a $10,000 raise to match the salary of that new CSR, consider restructuring or adding more responsibility to their jobs. Do they handle more complex calls? Do they work more closely with the sales representatives? They may already be functioning as senior CSRs but without the pay. However you choose to address this type of issue, be sure that you are rewarding them with something tangible and meaningful. Most importantly, be transparent. Remember, your employees will talk about it. 5 Offer a variety of training and development opportunities. According to the same Fortune survey cited above, after bad bosses and compensation, the third most frequent reason for employees to leave their jobs is lack of opportunity. There are multiple ways to provide your employees with training and education to prepare them for new opportunities. These may include formal training courses, industry conferences, webinars and online learning or inexpensive alternatives such as providing a mentor or a cross-training opportunity. An increasing number of employers are also offering tuition reimbursement for education not related to an individual’s current position. Many traditional tuition reimbursement plans limit reimbursement to course work related to a current position, but a 2015 International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans survey reported that 46 percent of survey respondents offer tuition reimbursement for any course work, regardless if it is related to the work currently being performed. The bottom line is to get creative and ahead of the game to keep your best employees. Susan Palé is a contributor for Affinity HR Group, Inc., PPAI’s affiliated human resources partner. Affinity HR Group specializes in providing human resources assistance to associations, such as PPAI, and their member companies. www.affinityHRgroup.com 12 Beliefs Of Truly Engaged Employees For more than 30 years, the Gallup Organization has studied the key elements that highly- engaged employees say are most important to them at work. This has resulted in the Q12 index— the 12 elements that are tied most closely to job engagement and business performance. They are listed in order of importance. I know what’s expected of me at work. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. In the past seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work. My supervisor or someone at work seems to care about me as a person. There is someone at work who encourages my development. At work, my opinions seem to count. The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing good-quality work. I have a best friend at work. In the past six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress. This last year, I have had opportunities to learn and grow. 1 3 5 7 9 2 4 6 8 10 11 12 | JULY 2019 | 65 THINK