National Academies Press: OpenBook

Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce (2011)

Chapter: Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover

« Previous: Chapter 7 - Branding the Organiz ation/Industry
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
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Page 62
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 62
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 63
Page 64
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 64
Page 65
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 65
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 8 - Reducing Voluntary Turnover." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 66

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60 Chapter 8: Reducing Voluntary Turnover Voluntary turnover is often the result of a lack of recognition by the agency of their employees’ value to the organization, policies that inhibit growth, and lack of opportunities for advancement. In this chapter, we present challenges, strategies, and workforce practices related to “Reducing Voluntary Turnover.” Exhibit 8-1 provides a snapshot of the chapter. Exhibit 8-1 Snapshot of Chapter 8 Chapter Road Map Concept and Definition Many transportation agencies are realizing that reducing voluntary turnover is a cost-effective approach to retaining a strong workforce, particularly in challenging economic times. Workforce Challenges …..……....….. 61 Short-term Turnover Differences in Job Expectation s Better Location Deficiency in Top Management Support Industry Strategies .………………… 61 Remove Obstacles to Employee Growth Reward Citizenship Behaviors Keep Former Employees Close Reward Employee s Take Care of Employee s Focus on Retention Early and Learn from Mistake s Workforce Practices …..……………. 63 Regional Transportation District (RTD) Champions of Transit Program Missouri DOT Employee Solutions at Work (SAW) Program Definition of Reducing Voluntary Turnover: Involves efforts to monitor and increase employee job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment. Workforce Pipeline Target Area Target Career Stages K-12 Comm. Colleges 4 year Colleges Graduate School s Entry-Level Staff Mid-Career Staff Senior Leaders Retirees Reducing Voluntary Turnover Chapter 8 Target Area TRANSPOR ATT ION WORKFORCE PIPELINE

8.1 Workforce Challenges. Programs related to “Reducing Voluntary Turnover” are typically designed to address challenges associated with maintaining a satisfied workforce. These challenges should be carefully considered before selecting the program that would best fit the needs of your agency. For example, these are common challenges agencies face: Short-term Turnover. Participants indicated that between 6 and 18 months after beginning a new job, some employees realize that they do not enjoy their new work environment and voluntarily opt to leave the company. The primary reasons for this type of turnover include an inability to find the work meaningful; an inability to fit into the organizational culture; a conflict or dislike of a supervisor; a lack of flexibility, autonomy, or leadership opportunities; and/or the necessity of outdoor manual labor. During this critical timeframe, organizations struggle to keep these employees onboard; thus, specific workforce initiatives need to be targeted at employees within this timeframe. Differences in Job Expectations. Organizations have found that generations differ in terms of what they want from their employer; employees aged 50 and over often prioritize being respected and feeling valued, employees in their 40s often want more time at home and greater work-life balance, and employees in their 30s typically desire different types of development opportunities. With regard to development opportunities, employees from younger generations are interested in learning as much as they can in a short period of time. These younger employees are often interested in expanding their skill set in order to make themselves more desirable in the job market. Organizations are challenged with providing the necessary amount of training to keep employees engaged while balancing the amount of time employees spend in training with their contributions to the bottom line. Organizations are also challenged with training supervisors in how to harness their employees’ desire to learn. Additionally, younger workers often differ in their expectations when it comes to promotions. Today’s younger workers are looking to quickly climb the corporate ladder and if promotions do not occur in 2 to 3 years, these workers may begin to look for opportunities outside the organization. This differs from previous generations who were not as concerned with promotions as they were with job stability. In addition to dealing with these differences in expectations, employers also have to work with managers who do not believe in treating all employees according to their needs. Better Location. Large private sector competitors (e.g., Boeing, Google, John Deere, Wal-Mart) often build facilities in rural and remote areas, which decrease the amount of potential applicants for job openings in the smaller, more resource-constrained public sector agencies in those same areas. These big companies will hire the majority of the individuals in the local towns and sometimes ‘grow’ towns based on their employment demand. Public sector organizations struggle to retain employees when one of these large facilities is constructed, especially if more generous compensation and benefits or greater opportunities to work with people they know are offered. Deficiency in Top Management Support. Participants suggested that their organizations are challenged with gaining corporate support for new retention initiatives. Human resource (HR) representatives reported that they sometimes struggle to convince higher-level leadership that investing in initiatives found to reduce turnover can also contribute positively to the bottom line. 8.2 Industry Strategies. Researchers and program managers identify the following programmatic strategies when describing industry efforts in “Reducing Voluntary Turnover” (see Exhibit 8-2). While these strategies represent the general direction of HR departments across the nation, it is Reducing Voluntary Turnover 61

important that the specific needs of your agency are used to guide the development and implementation of a program in your agency. Exhibit 8-2 Industry Strategies: Reducing Voluntary Turnover Strategy Strategy Description Remove Obstacles to Employee Growth Research indicates that removing barriers and workplace distractions are essential components of employee retention. For example, many transit organizations single out improved training itself as key to workforce recruitment and—especially—retention (TRB, 2003). Reward Citizenship Behaviors Employees are interested in working for companies that encourage meaningful relationships with the community and value employee camaraderie. Thus, it is important that organizations recognize individuals who contribute to the organization, to their coworkers, and to the surrounding community through participating in charitable acts, commonly referred to as organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e., contextual performance). An increasing number of DOTs are promoting environmental stewardship activities in particular. NYSDOT has been particularly effective at increasing staff pride and ownership with such activities, in the context of regular maintenance work and additional partnership activities sometimes outside of work hours. Keep Former Employees Close During times of economic downturn, organizations are providing training courses to laid-off employees on how to search, apply, and interview when seeking a job, as well as career counseling, outplacement assistance, resume - writing, access to office equipment, financial counseling, access to job fair information and information on internet job placement sites. This conveys to the employee that the organization is concerned about their career beyond their contribution to the bottom line. Organizations that provide such training and then experience lay-offs have seen many of those who were laid-off reapply when openings became available. This assistance will also keep employees local, which may help the organization more quickly rehire them in the future. Organizations are also developing websites where former employees can go to receive updates on the organization’s recent accomplishments, the current employees, and even job opportunities. Developing an “alumni portal” conveys to current and former employees that the organization is interested in their well-being even after they have moved on to another organization. Organizations with alumni portals have also seen former employees return based on the constant contact. Rehiring former employees is beneficial to the organization because those rehires do not require as much training. During times of economic downturn, organizations are even reaching out to their competitors when they can no longer support their employees. They are pointing their employees in the direction of these job opportunities to ensure that the individuals stay employed. Organizations that practice this tactic typically see their employees return when new job opportunities become available. 62 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce

Exhibit 8-2 (Continued) Industry Strategies: Reducing Voluntary Turnover Strategy Strategy Description Reward Employees To directly combat turnover issues, some organizations are implementing programs where cash bonuses are provided to employees who have accomplished 5, 10, or 15 years of service. More typically, organizations are providing employees with cash bonuses for either performance that goes above and beyond their current job description or for having the lowest number of safety incidents during a designated period of time (e.g., 1 year). It is important to connect workers to their accomplishments and, depending on the person’s personality, recognize them publicly. Organizations post pictures of award winners where they can be seen by other employees. It must be noted that public recognition may not be as motivating for employees who are more introverted and those employees may prefer more silent forms of recognition (e.g., individual email from supervisor). Take Care of Employees One way to retain employees is to find out what their work- or non-work- related needs are and determine if the organization can do anything to provide assistance to the employee in balancing their work and personal life demands, to free them up more for work. For example, organizations have found that providing resource and referral services that locate available childcare, provide legal counseling, and identify eldercare resources allows individuals to address personal needs that might otherwise distract from work performance. Furthermore, organizations have found success when they have provided legalization and immigration counseling to employees who may otherwise contribute to attrition if forced to leave the country to avoid deportation. Focus on Retention Early and Learn From Mistakes Research has found a curvilinear relationship between company tenure and turnover such that turnover rates are high during employees’ first year, higher in years two and three, and then steadily decrease the longer an employee stays at an organization (Hom, Roberson, and Ellis, 2008). Thus, organizations must focus on retaining employees during their first 3 years of service. 8.3 Workforce Practices. Eight workforce practices that were designed to assist in making the process of “Reducing Voluntary Turnover” within transportation agencies efficient and effective were reviewed, and we identified two workforce practices that were noteworthy within this context: Regional Transportation District (RTD) Champions of Transit Program Missouri DOT Employee Solutions at Work (SAW) Program For these two practices, we conducted a case study. Summaries of the two case studies are presented below. The full case studies can be found on the TRB website at http://trb.org/Main/Blurbs/164747.aspx as part of Volume II: Supplemental Materials. The full case study descriptions detail each practice’s background, implementation, maintenance, evaluation, and transferability. Reducing Voluntary Turnover 63

Regional Transportation District (RTD) Champions of Transit Program Job Type: All ROI: Short-term Generation: All Key Program Highlights: o Integrated community involvement, employee wellness, and employee recognition activities o On-site physical therapist has saved “millions of dollars” o Positively impacted agency operations and helped improve performance Regional Transportation District (RTD) Champions of Transit Program. The Denver metro area’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) has approximately 2,600 employees in its workforce with average age of 48 years. RTD struggled with recruitment and retention efforts for several years, an ongoing challenge of retaining employees working split shifts, nights, and in jobs that can be stressful and physically demanding. When RTD was losing an average of 20 employees per month, they decided to implement a program that demonstrates the agency’s appreciation for employee involvement in community, organizational, and personal development activities. Champions of Transit integrated community involvement, employee wellness, and employee recognition activities into one program. The program’s mission is to provide excellent service and support in the areas of wellness and rehabilitation. By implementing the Champions of Transit program, RTD anticipated its employees would become more aware of their health and as a result would remain on the job longer by avoiding injuries and disability leave and learning how to manage the stress of the job. The Champions of Transit program communicates RTD’s commitment to being a positive force in the community and to employee health, well-being, and development. The agency describes the program in a colorful glossy catalog, Get Involved, Get Healthy, Get Rewards, Get Recognized. This catalog describes the benefits of participation for the employee and the community, steps to get involved, and the rewards for each type or level of involvement. To implement the practice, point values are assigned to each of three types of Champions of Transit activities: Community Outreach, Personal Development, and Hooked on Health. The Community Outreach Program includes RTD promotion booths at fairs and festivals, internal RTD employee events, and community races. The Personal Development component includes wellness center participation and a resource center. The Hooked on Health component is the Employee Wellness Program, which promotes fitness and self-improvement. The initial cost of equipping each district with the appropriate machines and resources for the program was around $200,000. In addition, RTD spends approximately $150,000 in staff salaries and another $40,000 to operate the Champions of Transit program each year. The program also funds an on-site physical therapist, which alone has saved RTD “millions of dollars” in absenteeism, disability leave, and workers’ compensation costs. Staff can attend physical therapy daily and must be certified before they return to work, to ensure they are well. RTD monitors health data on prescription costs too, to better understand its employees’ health needs. Strengths and weakness of the program are evaluated with feedback obtained from various surveys, including the year-end survey and exit surveys. RTD’s Champions of Transit program has impacted agency operations and helped improve performance levels, generating the highest rates of return through its ability to help participants return quickly to work following an injury and reduce absenteeism. 64 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce

Missouri DOT Employee Solutions at Work (SAW) Program Job Type: All ROI: Short-term Generation: All Key Program Highlights: o Collects, evaluates, documents, and communicates best practices that deliver improved results o Employees responsible for submitting best practices that get implemented are awarded 2 days leave or $300 o 70% and 80% of best practices implemented positively impact field operations and maintenance performance Missouri DOT Employee Solutions at Work (SAW) Program. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) employs 6,289 people with an average age of 42 years. MoDOT wanted to foster a culture that supports employees’ input and ideas, but struggled with transforming this idea and desire into practice. Additionally, MoDOT employees were unsatisfied with static salaries, and the agency wanted to find a way to recognize employees for performing above expectations. Thus, in 2006 MoDOT established their Solutions at Work (SAW) program, which recognized employees for implementing performance practices that improve daily operations. SAW allows the agency to collect, evaluate, document, and communicate best practices that are delivering improved results. Each division encourages its employees to identify and implement improved processes or new pieces of equipment that would make operations more effective, more efficient, or safer. Once a best practice has been implemented in a division and has shown improved results, the responsible employee(s) can submit it to the SAW program for review. The review process entails multiple steps, including: (1) an idea advocate who ensures submissions qualify and are complete, (2) the division manager who confirms improved performance or results, (3) technical reviewers who ensure the best practice will have a positive impact on the agency’s resources (e.g., time or money) and on organizational performance, and (4) an employee advisory counsel member who serves as an objective last check of feasibility and fairness in the previous reviews. Best practices that pass the review process are implemented throughout MoDOT and the responsible employee is awarded up to 2 days of leave or $300. The majority of costs related to the SAW program were incurred during design and implementation. The implementation of SAW required approximately 25 percent of one full-time employee for 7 months, the assistance from an IT programmer to develop the interface for the database, and the support of several staff within the agency to create the Intranet page. Since implementation, the only costs for maintaining the program involve the time it takes to review each practice, which has continued to decrease with experience. Additionally, many best practices that have been implemented throughout MoDOT have saved the organization millions of dollars. MoDOT tracks organizational performance as a result of best practices implemented from the SAW program, and they have observed SAW’s ability to continually provide significant improvement and success. For example, MoDOT estimates that between 70% and 80% of the best practices implemented positively impact field operations and maintenance performance. Furthermore, these best practices improve the agency’s efficiency and effectiveness by allowing employees to do their work better, faster, and safer in the field. The program also conveys that the agency cares about its employees and ideas, is listening, and will act on them. The program helps the agency foster and reaffirm a culture of innovation and accountability and successfully engages employees. Reducing Voluntary Turnover 65

Other Example Practices To serve as an additional resource for agencies interested in “Reducing Voluntary Turnover,” we have included a list of other practices that transportation agencies have implemented for this purpose. Additional information on each of the following practices can be found in one- to two-page summaries within the supplemental materials. Arizona DOT Exit Survey Program Employee Engagement, “Your Voice” Employer Recognition Program Idaho Department of Transportation’s (IDT’s) Non-Managerial Career Ladder Program Realistic Job Preview Recruitment and Attrition Lifecycle The practice summaries include information, such as the lead organization, practice description, practice purpose, targeted participants, return on investment (ROI) timeline, influence of the economy, innovativeness, and resources to find out more information on the individual practices. 66 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 685: Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce includes straight-forward, implementable practices that transportation Human Resources (HR) managers and hiring professionals can use to help improve the recruitment and retention of qualified employees in their organizations.

The report provides information on workforce challenges, industry strategies, and detailed descriptions of noteworthy practices within each of 15 recruitment and retention categories.

Volume II: Supplemental Material is available online as an ISO image, which can be used to produce a CD-ROM. Volume II includes an introductory document summarizing the content of the supplemental materials and provides full case studies and summaries of other example practices related to the recruitment and retention practices.

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