Don’t get scared. Get good!

As the economy improves corporations are scrambling to come up with ways to keep their valuable human capital.  Retention in the 21^st century is a big deal because we have found cool analytical ways to find out just how much it costs us to lose employees.  More and more companies are looking for distinguishing ways to keep their employees.   I recently read about a company in Dallas, Texas that hired workplace chaplains (http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1336925).  That’s right… you read it correctly.. workplace preachers to act as a respite for stressed out employees.  Egads! 

Marketplace Chaplains is the country’s largest and original chaplains’ service, where more than 2,700 chaplains serve in 23 various types of business industries in more than 3,000 client company locations, across 44 states and 983 cities, serving the needs of over 540,000 employees, and their family members, through care and compassion.

According to Digital Journal, one of the companies they interviewed said, “… to even consider hiring an employee, they spend $1,000 on pre-employment testing, along with an extensive training program. Many of our wire designers are still in training for up to a year. That’s why it’s critical to retain the right people and that’s where the chaplains come in, they help employees in need.” Marketplace Chaplains works with employees operating under the core principles of confidentiality, voluntary contact with employees and non-religious denominationalism.

I’m not sure how well that would go over outside of the Bible Belt, but it’s interesting to see what lengths employers are willing to go to keep their people.  Corporate culture is fast becoming its’ own industry in the 21^st century and it is being driven by recruitment and retention.   With the advent of in house wellness programs, flex hours, tuition reimbursement, dual career support and Bagel Fridays – employers are trying to outrun their own awesomeness by building an internal climate making it difficult for employees to think about going elsewhere.

It’s not hard to let people know you care about what happens to them.  And more and more, it is becoming necessary.  With a new generation of workers more than willing to be an increasingly mobile workforce, it’s not that big a leap, if an employee decides they want to start looking for a better deal. This flexibility which was not in the workforce 20 years ago, is a real threat to employers and is costing them millions in the hiring and retention of new hires.  So people are really starting to pay attention. They are sitting up, waking up and saying, “What can we do to make them stick and stay?” 

Beside the innovative practices at Tech Valley Connect, you will start to see a lot more ideas surface to combat this tide. Dual careers will, with much more regularity become an increasingly significant part of the hiring conversation as employers move to compete in this mobile marketplace.  Hiring practices used to focus much of their funding resources primarily on recruiting. Today, it’s as if someone took the employer’s face with both hands and physically moved it to look at retention.  The stakes are high folks and they wouldn’t be unless you guessed it…..cha-ching! 

Regional infrastructure like the Tech Valley Connect consortium of employers is uniquely positioned to address dual career in a way that distinguishes the Capital Region from any other competing locale and this region is ahead of the curve on this.  But not for long.  The dual career business model for Tech Valley Connect is being actively sought out for replication in 5 other areas across the country.  

To learn more unique ways to address employee retention click on…Tech Valley Connect or contact the author at [email protected] .  Angela McNerney is President of Tech Valley Connect, an organization assisting newly relocating professionals and their families to assimilate into the Capital Region.