The Busy Leader's Handbook

36Retention:

The First 90 Days and Beyond

One of the biggest issues that keep business owners and leaders up at night is finding and hiring talent. Hiring people takes time. Not only does it require precious hours for leaders to go through applications and interviews to fill a position, it takes time to get a new employee fully acclimated to a job. Also, hiring people takes money. There’s a cost to bringing in interviewees. It is expensive to put new people on payroll and benefits and to get them up to speed.

So yes, the acquisition of quality people is vital. But what may go unnoticed is the energy needed to get that person off to a great start.

Many business owners and leaders know the risk of losing an employee within the first year, but few may realize just how many employees leave before they’ve even hit 90 days. The statistics range from 20 to 30 percent, and while I’m not sure of the exact number, I’ve seen firsthand in my work with organizations over the years that too many people leave their job before they’ve really even gotten started.

These early departures are both disappointing and costly. What happens when people leave? We’ve established that turnover costs a lot of time and money. But there’s more. When people leave, the remaining employees will likely have to work additional hours. That can lead to burnout and stress on employees and family. And, ultimately, this will negatively impact the customer experience as well.

With a little bit of energy and focus ...