The Bottom Line for Employee Retention

Susan Heathfield is the Human Resources Guide at About.com and does a phenomenal job educating managers on human resources issues.  This week I ran across her article on the importance of effective supervision on employee retention.  Her article is just excellent and I recommend it to anyone concerned about employee retention.  A couple of quotes:

 It is not enough that the manager is well-liked or a nice person. Sure, a nice, likeable manager earns you some points with your employees. A draconian, nasty, or controlling manager takes points away from your organization. So will below market benefits and compensation. But, a manager or supervisor, who is a pro at employee retention, knows that the quality of the supervision is the key factor in employee retention.

Almost every manager can increase her ability to retain employees by developing her management skills. Teaching a manager about how to value people can be more challenging. Particularly if the manager doesn't already value people and their contributions in her mind and heart, it will be a leap for her to change her values.