Organization culture and Employee Retention

Phm Minh c 1357001.

Contents:
Organization culture
Retention
The relationship between organization culture and employee retention
Features of high retention culture
The exception for retention culture

1. Organization culture


Culture is not easy to define and its a power force in any organization. Made up of its
members shared values, beliefs, symbols, and behaviours, culture guides individual
decisions and actions at the unconscious level.
Some consider culture the glue that holds everyone together. Others compare it to a compass
providing direction.
More than the level of awareness for the employees, culture creates a common ground for
team members. It reduces uncertainty by putting a common language for interpreting events
and issues. It provides a sense of order so that all team members know what is expected.
From this consistence, company can develop their mission, vision and strategies.
At the observable level, culture is manifested in an organizations climate - the behaviours
and strategies that can be managed in support of organizational goals.
2. Retention
Culture is an important factor in influencing employees commitment to the organization and
their willingness to remain and work toward organizational goals. Employees will be
particularly attracted to organizations with values that are congruent with their own, or that
match what they consider to be ideal organization values.
Drivers of Retention:

3. The relationship between organization culture and employee retention.
Employee Communications
Taking feedback and maintaining honest communications are very important for employee
retention strategy. Managers can have meetings or surveys about employee retention.
Furthermore, through interviews with disaffected employees, companies can improve the
dissatisfaction factors, such as benefit system. By taking time to listen, companies build a
culture of loyalty that reduces the risk of turnover.
Job Satisfaction
Employee retention is a battle for hearts and minds. The quality of organizational culture
affects this sentence, because dissatisfaction with a supervisor or a manager is among the
most commonly cited reasons for quitting a job, "Inc." reported in 2010. When working
relationship among colleagues go sour, rewards or money cannot do anything to keep
employees. For employees caught in a tight economy, fewer options exist to solve these
problems. Still, managers who fail to take their company's internal temperature risk losing
their top talent once the economy improves.
Managerial Dynamics
Organizations live or die by their managerial dynamics. Poor managers rule by fear and
manipulation, creating a "yes man" culture that stifles good ideas, "CNN Money" notes. To
grow, employees must believe their voices will be heard, even if management does not agree.
Jay Grinney pursued this approach as the new CEO of HealthSouth, a Birmingham, Alabama,
company rocked by criminal investigations and civil suits. Grinney instituted quarterly "town
hall"-style sessions for employees and top managers to ask questions. Such measures help
rebuild a company's credibility and restore employees' trust.
Work-Life Balance
Balancing life and work is increasingly important for employees in deciding whether to stick
with an employer. In a healthy organizational culture, managers provide ways to maintain
that balance, including flexible schedules, on-site amenities and work-from-home options.
Companies that promote these options are less likely to lose workers who can boost their
success.

4. Feature of high retention culture
Well defined organizational direction and purpose
People want to work for an organization that has purpose and meaning. If you align
employees with your mission, you can make them to become dedicated to your company
and be more productive
Management that care for employee
The relationship between the manager, supervisor and employee is very important. It
what makes the bond between your employee with the company. If you care for your
employee, the connection will be much stronger.
Flexibility in work scheduling and benefits
Every employee has their own life, outside the company, you don't know what is going on
with them so Employees demand flexibility in their jobs because their lives demand it. If
you can provide a flexible schedule, people would love to work for you. And also
different kinds of benefit will be much more compelling than just one thing.
Open, straightforward communication
Employee wants their supervisor or manager to listen to them whenever they have
something to say, an idea or a problem. If you can keep a straightforward communication
where everything is clear, everyone can work and cooperate together much better and
eventually, will solve problems, make your company to be more productive.
Energetic and enthusiastic work environment
Do your employees enjoy their work? If you can make the work mentally engaging and
physically energizing, employees are more likely to stay.
Effective performance appraisals
Effective performance appraisals help align individual behaviours and performance with
your organization`s goals.
You can define the problems that employees are facing and solve it so that they can be
more productive.
Training and development
Workers want the opportunity to develop their skills and enhance their company
contributions. Training and development give people greater control and ownership of
their jobs and contribute to increased loyalty and retention
Competitive wages
While decent pay is almost never sufficient, by itself, to keep employees around, it is a
necessary baseline step for getting your foot in their retention door. Raising pay will not
automatically lower turnover, but paying too little especially during periods of low
unemployment- will definitely contribute to it.
5. The exception of employee retention

As mentioned above, a good and appropriate culture will help the company reduce the risk of
losing their employees but it seems that it is not completely applied with Google.
Google has been consistently ranked best company to work for according to Forbes. With
their open, straight forward culture and a lot of benefits for the employees but Googles
average employee tenure is only 1.1 year. Why?
Google has no official statement about this but there are some possible explanations for this
matter:
Google is quite a young company, established in 1998 which means the possible longest
years working is only over 10 years. Furthermore, Google has been expanding dramatically
and hiring a lot so if you take a sample of Googles employees and calculate the median
employee tenure, it would not be long.
Besides most of the employees at Google are pretty young and belong to generation Y. As the
scientists and psychologists said that Gen-Y does not like to be stable, they like to jump from
places to places (as in workplace) and challenge themselves. In addition to that, Google is
very well-known for their hiring process in order to get the top people in the industry. Good
is not enough, you have to be great or excellent to work for Google. And with great people of
Gen-Y, it would not be a big problem for them to find a job and jump to places.
Conclusion:
Organization culture and employee retention has a close relationship and impact on each
other. Though it is not easy to define and establish a great culture for any companies but by
doing this, company can reduce the risk of losing its people and as a result, company will
grow stronger and generate better revenue.