The University achieves its success through both its students and staff. Retaining quality staff is critical for UTS to maintain and grow its successes. This is especially important in an increasingly competitive labour market .
Losing a valued staff member can be costly to any organisation in terms of actual dollar costs, lost productivity, loss of corporate knowledge and disruption to the workplace. It is important that strategies are in place to retain valued and experienced staff. Managers are responsible for implementing retention strategies.
Retention strategies are not one off actions and need to be implemented throughout the employment cycle not just at the time a member of the work group informs you of their intention to take up a position elsewhere. By this stage it may be too late.
As a manager you need to understand the needs and aspirations of your staff and the strategies that will be effective in motivating and engaging them.
Retention Strategies
Cash incentives are commonly associated with retention. These can be important but the key to retention is to keep staff interested in, motivated by and engaged with the organisation and work that they perform within it. The following strategies may assist to achieve this:
- Delegate Responsibility – entrust staff with the responsibility for an activity not just the work associated with performing the activity, empower your staff and allow them to grow and to use their skills
- Development opportunities - provide new and varied opportunities to build capability, encourage growth and advancement. Allow your staff to shadow you or assist you with higher level activities
- Mentoring and coaching
- Achievement – set goals and objectives that allow your staff to achieve success
- Recognition and appreciation –recognise good work or when a staff member has worked hard to achieve an outcome. This can be done in many ways from a verbal or written thank you, to announcements at Faculty/Divisional meetings and nominations for UTS wide awards including CAP
- Varied and challenging work – allocate work that is worthwhile and important so that staff do not become bored or lose interest
- Listen - establish regular opportunities for staff to make suggestions and offer feedback, discuss them, and act on them where appropriate
- Flexibility – develop and maintain a work culture which supports and assists staff to manage their work-life balance issues and facilitate flexible working arrangements which can be accommodated by the work unit
Contact
Contact your HR Partnership team for assistance in relation to retention issues.
