As we described in last week's blog on stay interviews, retaining qualified employees is top of mind for leadership teams at most organizations today. In fact, the Conference Board report, C-Suite Challenge 2018, that asks 1,000 business leaders about their challenges finds that talent ranks as the foremost concern among CEOs and others in the C-Suite, including CHROs and CFOs. With intense competition for talent, stay interviews have increasingly become a key retention technique within employee retention strategies and talent retention strategies to stay connected with consultants and understand if they are happy, motivated and professionally fulfilled or identify if there is a retention concern.
With the national unemployment rate at 3.9%, how do organizations keep the workers they have and attract new ones? While we were living in a different economy 10 years ago when the book Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, was published, author Daniel H. Pink tells us that autonomy (let me do the job on my own terms), mastery (helps me develop) and purpose (align with a company with a higher calling) are the factors that drive employees. These motivators strengthen employee engagement and support employee retention over time.
To revisit retention, Simpplr, an employee communications firm conducted a survey of managers at companies on the Wilshire 5000 (a broad index of publicly traded U.S. firms) and analyzed overall performance ratings of companies by employees on the jobs site Glassdoor, the largest source of engagement data publicly available. The findings are as follows:
Summary
Amid a tight labor market, employee retention hinges on engagement driven by autonomy, mastery, and purpose—and by strong communication via practices like stay interviews. Analysis of Glassdoor data and a Simpplr survey shows culture and senior management ratings are powerful predictors of retention, with excitement about work tied to purpose, alignment, and community. Clear communication of strategic priorities, a caring workplace community, and values alignment elevate engagement, improve employer ratings, reduce turnover and hiring costs, and boost productivity.
Culture matters.
According the survey, 40% of workers are likely to leave their jobs in the next 12 months. Looking at the Glassdoor data, the researchers found that employees at companies with low overall ratings are five times more likely to leave their current positions than those in the top third. Companies doing well on Glassdoor, they reason, are doing something right about corporate culture and keeping employees.
From the Glassdoor ratings, the researchers further found that employer ratings are a key indicator of retention. For example, culture and senior management ratings are good predictors of overall ratings. In fact, anecdotally, they are almost always the same, and a sign that executives need to take responsibility for company culture.
What's more, employees who give their companies high overall ratings on Glassdoor are excited about going to work; those who rate their employers poorly are not.
Excited about going to work!
Being excited about going to work is a definitive measure of engagement. So, the researchers asked the question in their survey: What makes you excited to go to work in the morning? The responses were:
- Proud to work at the company
- Personal values align with those of the company
- Useful work
- Understanding of contribution to the company
- Feel sense of community at work
The researchers categorized these responses into three buckets: purpose (proud to work, personal values), alignment (useful working, understanding contribution) and community (feel sense of community). Diving deep into the data, the researchers found that:
- Alignment. While according to the survey just 15% said front line supervisors can recite the company's strategic priorities on the spot, understanding strategic priorities and clear employee communications about them matter to engagement.
- Community. Employees who feel their companies care about them are excited about going to work. Having a sense of community matters to employee engagement and helps retain employees. Survey findings corroborate with Gallup research that shows having a best friend at work cuts down on employees leaving a company.
- Purpose. Aligning personal values with the values of the organization and having pride in working there are other factors important for driving employee engagement.
The key takeaway.
Companies willing to invest in culture and engagement will have happier employees, which can result in improved employer ratings on Glassdoor. Long run implications is that companies will reduce employee turnover and attract new employees, lowering acquisition costs and, ultimately improve productivity. These efforts also boost employee retention.
Q&A
Question: Why are stay interviews becoming a key part of retention strategies?
Answer: In a tight labor market, stay interviews help leaders stay connected with employees and consultants to assess whether they are happy, motivated, and professionally fulfilled—and to spot potential retention concerns early. They are a practical communication tool within broader employee and talent retention strategies.
Question: How do autonomy, mastery, and purpose influence employee engagement and retention?
Answer: According to Daniel Pink’s framework cited in the article, employees are driven by autonomy (working on their own terms), mastery (opportunities to develop), and purpose (alignment with a higher calling). These intrinsic motivators deepen engagement, which in turn supports long-term retention.
Question: What did the Simpplr and Glassdoor analysis reveal about culture, management, and turnover risk?
Answer: Culture matters. Survey data shows 40% of workers are likely to leave within 12 months. Glassdoor analysis found employees at low-rated companies are five times more likely to leave than those at top-rated firms. Culture and senior management ratings are strong predictors of overall employer ratings—often moving together—signaling that executives must own culture. Employees who rate their companies highly are more excited to go to work; low ratings align with low excitement and higher attrition risk.
Question: What makes employees excited to go to work, and what role does communication play?
Answer: Employees cited five drivers of excitement:
- Pride in the company
- Personal values aligned with company values
- Doing useful work
- Understanding their contribution
- Feeling a sense of community
These cluster into purpose (pride, values alignment), alignment (useful work, understanding contribution), and community (belonging). Clear communication is critical: only 15% of frontline supervisors could recite strategic priorities on the spot, yet understanding these priorities and communicating them clearly is tied to stronger engagement. Employees who feel their company cares—and who have close relationships at work—are more excited to come to work and less likely to leave.
Question: What are the expected outcomes when companies invest in culture, communication, and engagement?
Answer: Companies that prioritize culture and engagement see happier employees, stronger Glassdoor ratings, reduced turnover, and improved ability to attract new talent. These improvements lower acquisition costs and ultimately boost productivity—enhancing overall employee retention.
