Employee Retention in the Utility Industry

Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture under Public Domain Mark 1.0, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.

I’m sure you are already aware of the incredible importance of employee retention for utility companies.  Maximizing retention is beneficial because it costs a lot of time and money to hire, train and nurture a new employee.  In addition, existing employees possess intuitional knowledge that can take years to develop.  And keeping employees is even more critical now, as the utility workforce is aging and there is an impeding wave of retirements that will create chaos.

Of course, this begs the question: how can my company improve employee retention?  Well, read on, I’ve got you covered.

Tips for Maximizing Employee Retention

Obviously, employees appreciate being trained and gaining valuable experience.  They also want ample opportunities to parlay this training and experience into higher-level positions.  But this type of work climate is easy to convey but difficult to practice.  Instead, focus on these basic steps for boosting employee retention:

• Constantly engage employees – Make people feel wanted and appreciated by asking for ? and when warranted adopting ? their ideas.
• Provide ample learning opportunities – Most people feel more satisfied in their job when they are learning new things.
• Offer leadership opportunities – If an employee wants to become a leader for your organization, by all means give him or her a shot to lead a project, intern, tactic, etc.
• Provide feedback – Expectations cannot be met if they are not communicated, and job performance cannot improve if feedback is not provided.
• Lead by example – Nobody like a hypocrite, so ditch the ‘do what I say not as I do’ mentality.
• Be fair and treat everyone equally – Nothing squashes employee motivation faster than a perceived wrong, so avoid preferential treatment at all costs.
• Pay people fairly – In addition to equal pay for equal work, employees who go above and beyond need to be compensated for their extra effort.

In the final analysis, employee retention is not easy.  It takes proactive strategies and tactics to keep employees happy and satisfied and avoid an employee exodus.  Ignore this at your own risk!