January 3, 2013 @ 10:00 AM

People leave managers, not companies.

Over the past year, I have been conducting a series of Management trainings based on the book "Love 'em or Lose 'em" by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans.

In Love 'Em or Lose 'Em , the authors persuasively argue that the ever-increasing "race for talent" can be effectively won only by those who adopt a mindset and behaviors that truly support their employees. They then describe how to do so, with a focus on the important role that managers play.

Based on research with 17,000 people who have job longevity, the authors identified five top "stay factors" such as opportunity for growth, meaningful work and great co-workers. Using these factors, they outline dozens of easy-to-implement strategies for increasing engagement and retention.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing techniques outlined in the book.  The authors use the letters of the alphabet to create 26 key leadership skills.  Let's start with "N" -- the Numbers.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that it costs

  • $3,500 to replace an $8.00 per hour employee (the lowest of 17 nationally respected companies who calculated the cost.)

Other sources provide estimates:

  • It costs you between 30% - 50% of the annual salary of entry-level employees
  • 150% of middle-level employees
  • Up to 400% for specialized, high level employees!

Costs associated with replacing a departing employee include:

  • Recruiting
  • Interviewing
  • Hiring
  • Orientation
  • Training
  • Compensation and benefits while training
  • Lost productivity
  • Administrative costs

Statistics show that it usually isn't the low level employees who leave.  It's the high producing quality employees that leave bad managers/work environments.  Can you really afford to lose an employee without even findout out what YOU could have done differently to retain them?  This will bring us to our next installment --- "A".  Tune in next week.

READERS:  Have you ever left a company due to a bad manager?  If so, tell us about it (without mentioning names to protect the innocent).