Use Data to
Drive Improvement
Improving Retention Together
Although there are numerous factors that can have a negative impact upon colleague retention, the impact of each area can vary greatly between each area due to differences in team, leadership approaches, cultures and working environments in which we work.
To make the greatest retention improvement impact in your area it is key that you understand your specific and unique retention baseline position to help you identify priority improvement areas and develop impactful improvement approaches. Although this might seem a little daunting and complex at first, try not to worry as there is help and support available, just remember you are not expected to have all the answers.
A good place to start is to look at turnover rates (the proportion of colleagues who leave an organisation over a set period of time) or organisational movement (proportion of colleagues who move between departments or areas over a set period).
In addition to this qualitative data, it is also important to consider and understand the reasons colleagues leave, as well as the reasons that they stay. You can gather this information both through ESR, by conducting Exit and Stay conversations and questionnaires and reviewing findings of annual staff surveys. Further information and advice is available within the Supporting Each Other to Stay section of this action kit and the staff survey reports. It may also be helpful to undertake the retention baseline assessment to identify areas on which you might want to concentrate.
Once you have looked at the data you might be able to identify themes and trends that you could investigate further and improve. It may also be helpful to undertake the retention baseline assessment to help you identify improvement areas.
- What data is already available to you?
- Do you need additional data?
- Does analysis of your data show any key themes or trends?
- How does your area or organisation compare to others?
- What changes and approaches would you like to make in your area?
- Who can help you?
- Involve your team in improvement
- What changes could you make?
- Give it a try.
