When it comes to retaining your best employees, owning a crystal ball would come in handy. After all, those who have plans to leave rarely tell you in advance.
Well, they’ll tell you two weeks in advance, but not much more than that.
So the question is this: since crystal balls don’t exist, how can you tell who’s about to leave your company?
ExecuNet, an online career network for senior managers, recently conducted a survey of nearly 4,000 executives with annual salaries averaging well over $200,000 per year. ExecuNet conducted this survey for its soon-to-be-released 2013 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report.
In the survey, ExecuNet posed questions designed to reveal executives’ career plans for the next 12 months. According to this recent article on the CNNMoney.com website, four of the questions were more effective in identifying which of the executives are a “flight risk.”
Those four questions are listed below:
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“Are you proud of the company where you work now?”
- “Do you enjoy your work?”
- “Is your boss someone you respect and/or admire?”
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“Would you refer other executives in your network for a job there?”
So—what do you do now? A face-to-face talk with your top talent is in order. However, it’s obvious that you just can’t ask employees the four questions listed above in a point-blank fashion. Instead, ask them questions that will help you gauge their thoughts about the company, their role within the company, and what their future holds.
But make no mistake about it. If you want to retain your best employees, those employees should be proud of working at your company, enjoy their work, respect and/or admire their boss, and be willing to refer others for employment at the company.
Because if they don’t, they might already have one foot out the door.
Link to the CNNMoney.com article:
//management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/05/headhunters-job-hunting/