“Contrary to what most people think, employees do not usually stay or leave for reasons pertaining to salary,” according to The Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice, Update 2004. “Although salary can definitely be a factor, most people are looking for career development opportunities, work-life balance, individualized work options and benefits, and feedback on their work that makes them feel valuable to the organization. Despite the fact that the latter factor requires no out-of-pocket expenses, companies often forget to ensure their employees receive this support in a meaningful way.”

High employee turnover hurts a firm both in productivity and the bottom line. Estimates for the cost of replacing an employee run from 25 to 50 percent of that person’s annual salary, given the expenses of hiring, training, and loss of clients, knowledge, and productivity. Retaining key personnel necessitates understanding why employees leave and crafting a thoughtful, responsive retention plan.

Benefits and balance
The workplace has changed considerably over the past few decades. Gone are the days when employees anticipated receiving a pension, keeping bankers’ hours, and working within the traditional top-down management structure. Today’s workforce holds no illusions about their burden for retirement planning, keeps longer hours than ever before, and expects a less hierarchical and more collaborative environment. In exchange, they want adaptable work arrangements, excellent health-care options, and flexible benefits and hours.

Work-life balance has become a critical issue with more mothers in the workforce and more fathers involved as partners in caregiving. Employees look for firms that offer family-friendly options like telecommuting, reduced work weeks of 30-40 hours with full benefits, or compressed work weeks where an employee works nine hours a day in order to have every other Friday off. Many families appreciate that flexible arrangements allow them to manage their work and family obligations with greater ease. Other benefits gaining in popularity are on-site daycare facilities, parking or mass transit subsidies, and a generous leave policy where employees’ sick, vacation, and personal time are bundled together, allowing maximum adaptability to individual family circumstances.

The work environment
A supportive work environment with emphasis on team- and relationship-building is crucial to retaining key employees. A collaborative workplace enhances the team structure and encourages frequent communication. Employees frequently change employment because they feel unappreciated. Staff should be able to discuss issues with their supervisors and know that their input is valued. One useful tool is to have employees submit appraisals of their managers each review period, an encouragement for the supervisor to focus attention on creating a healthy workplace. In addition to providing meaningful, substantive feedback through the review process, managers should offer periodic informal updates on employee performance to ensure that their needs and the firm’s needs are being addressed.

Employees also value a firm that offers opportunities for growth and career development. The Handbook of Professional Practice states, “Training and development can be a critical retention tool and is a relatively inexpensive way to develop staff while promoting good will. Continuous learning and growth keeps employees engaged and demonstrates the firm’s commitment to their careers.” Opportunities could include a formal mentoring program, tuition assistance, allocations for professional dues, and continuing-education courses.

Creating a retention plan
A successful personnel retention plan must first examine and evaluate the staff’s knowledge and skills, education and licenses, experience, career ambitions and paths, motivating factors, and demographics to gain a thorough understanding of the composition and motivation of the staff. Next, information needs to be gathered on why employees leave. Finally, management should determine how to address those critical issues. Soliciting comments will signal the staff that their issues are being taken seriously and engender trust in the firm’s commitment to supporting its workers’ needs. When creating a talent-retention plan, the Handbook recommends:

• Benchmarking—learn how other firms retain key personnel to give firm leaders a realistic picture of their benefits and policies in the marketplace
• Implementing key programs—study the motivating factors identified by staff and implement where feasible
• Supporting training and development—offering continuing education is a vital retention tool that is relatively inexpensive and promotes goodwill
• Keeping current on compensation and benefits—use salary surveys and other applicable data in evaluating the firm’s pay scale to ensure competitiveness
• Establishing policies for perks and considerations—managers occasionally receive requests for special considerations such as paying for membership in multiple professional organizations as opposed to just one; create a policy regarding perks for consistency and fairness
• Creating awards and recognition programs—decide the type of recognition or award that is appropriate for both firm and staff and develop nomination criteria
• Developing career action plans—evaluate job descriptions, career paths, skills, and abilities to create career development plans so that employees can envision their future with the company
• Reviewing communication tools—ensure that employees can make suggestions in a non-threatening way, managers collect feedback from recent hires, exit interviews are collected and evaluated, and team meetings are held where information is shared and input sought.

“There is no set format for retention plans . . . Rather than taking on too much at once, choose two or three things to focus on for the upcoming year. It is better to make small strides in reducing turnover than to undertake too much.

“Measuring success is key to determining how effective retention initiatives are at reducing turnover. Measurements provide a guide to how effective an initiative is at addressing turnover, and also alert the firm when it is time to review and revise the retention plan. Retention of employees requires a dynamic process, and architecture firms concerned about keeping their key talent must keep their efforts current and on target.”

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