The Benchmark Email

...benchmarks, strategies and ideas for improving your agency
A service of Fazzi Associates, Inc.

October 8, 2002

Affect of Managers on Staff Retention

Question:
We are dealing with a staffing reality where it is becoming harder and harder to retain good staff. Is there any study that shows the relationship of managers to the overall retention of staff?

Answer:
Yes! In what may be the largest study of its kind, the Gallup Organization studied over one million workers and eighty thousand managers in four hundred agencies. The study took place over a twenty-five year period. In an effort to identify the best managers from the rest, each company was asked to provide performance measures. They included “sales figures, profit, customer satisfaction scores, employee turnover figures, employee opinion data, and 360-degree surveys.”  Analysis of these reports led to a dramatic finding: while there are many reasons why an employee initially takes a job in an organization, how long that employee stays with the company and how productive he or she is while there is determined primarily “by his relationship with his immediate supervisor.” Improve your managers' capacity to develop supportive relationships with employees and you improve employee retention.

Implications:
Most managers in home care agencies were outstanding line employees and moved up to become managers. Most have never had formal manager training. Make it clear to your managers that one of their jobs is employee retention. Provide your managers with the training and support they need to improve their ability to support and motivate their employees. Provide on-going support to your managers (i.e. monthly managerial development sessions) and reward managers who clearly excel.

For more information on the Gallup study read: First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curtis Coffman (Simon & Schuster).