Thread: Staff Retention Policy

1. INTRODUCTION
Staff retention is a process of ensuring that employees are kept within the department, especially employees with valued or needed skills or experience in a scarce /critical field (where recruitment is difficult) and employees from the designated groups (as defined in the Employment Equity Act, 1998) namely black people, women and people with disabilities, using various techniques.

Staff retention stems from the employment process. Employment process is a crucial process that should receive careful and sufficient attention to ensure that its objectives and goals are achieved. The three employment processes (recruitment, selection and placement) predetermine the effectiveness of retention strategy of the department. For staff retention to be successful it has to be linked positively to the processes and practices of recruitment, selection, placement, training and development, remuneration and performance appraisal.

This policy should be read in conjunction with the Department’s Employment Equity Plan and policy on Training and Development.

2. PURPOSE
The purpose of staff retention is to allow senior and line managers to effectively retain their staff by providing information on staff retention and some possible staff retention techniques. The aim of this policy is to prevent the loss of competent staff from the Department, which could have an adverse effect on service delivery.

3. SUPPORTING LEGISLATION / PRESCRIPTS
The objective of retaining suitable personnel within the Department is based on the following provisions:-
(i) Public Service Act, 1994;
(ii) Public Service Regulations, 2001, Part V C.3;
(iii) Employment Equity Act, 1998;
(iv) Departmental Affirmative Action Policy
(v) Skills Development Act, 1998
(vi) Public Finance Management Act, 2000

4. SCOPE OF APPLICATION
This policy applies to all employees of the Department.

5. STAFF RETENTION TECHNIQUES
5.1 Scarce skills
(a) The staff turnover may be compared with that of competitors and the labour market as a whole. In so doing, areas of concern and good practices may be identified.
(b) The risk of losing staff (scarce/critical skills) must be assessed.
(c) In assessing the supply / demand, the department must determine the scarce/critical skills on an annual basis.
(d) Where scarce/critical skills have been identified, an executing authority may set the salary for a post or an employee above the minimum notch of the salary range indicated by the job weight -
(di) If he or she has evaluated the job, but cannot recruit or retain an employee with the necessary competencies at the salary indicated by the job weight; and
(dii) He or she shall record the reason why the salary indicated by the job weight was insufficient. (PSR, 2001 Part V C.3).
(e) The process may also be initiated where an employee with scarce/critical skills and/or experience, has received a higher job offer and the executing authority may give a counter offer to retain his/her services.

5.2 Employment Equity
(a) The Employment Equity Act, 1998, requires every employer to retain and develop people from the designated groups. In certain instances the Department may experience difficulty in retaining black (African, Indian and Coloured) people, women and people with disabilities in certain areas.
(b) Decisions of this nature must be taken with due consideration to the relevant Directorate’s Employment Equity Plan and the Department’s Affirmative Action Policy.

5.3 Service providers
(a) Every effort must be made to use the skills or create capacity within the department before engaging the services of service providers.
(b) The use of consultants must be limited and, where internal capacity exists, allocate additional duties (identified for consultants) to suitably qualified and experienced employees. This could result in a higher job evaluation of the person’s post and more challenging work, thus improving the Department’s ability to retain the services of certain employees.
(c) Where the service providers such as consultants are used, comparison must be made to ensure that the service is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective. (PFM Act, 2000 Section 38(1)(iii)).

5.4 Encourage performance
(a) Employees are encouraged when they are given exciting jobs. This gives them the determination to do their job.
(b) Have flexible work arrangements that will suit the employee and their families.
(c) Avoid overloading your top performers with secondary tasks.
(d) Reward employees who are performing well so that those that are under performing can be motivated.
(e) Balance the performance level by pairing new employees or under performers with top performers.

5.5 Morale building
(a) Lead by example as a manager to achieve better results.
(b) Give employees a chance to develop by trusting them with high profile responsibilities.
(c) When an employee has performed well, show appreciation. If an employee goes unacknowledged, a message of their unimportance will be sent.
(d) Attend to staff needs timeously.
(e) Introduce rewarding techniques such as issuing a certificate for a project/task well done.

5.6 Boost employee’s self esteem
(a) A conducive environment should be provided where an employee can learn from his / her mistake.
(b) Recognize a job well done.
(c) Value employees who are performing well and make them feel valued.

5.7 Sense of ownership
(a) Less supervision is important. Employees do not like to be followed at each and every step they take because they may not feel trusted with the work they are doing.
(b) Involve employees in decision-making processes. This will make employees have a sense of ownership of what has been proposed and they will do their best to achieve high results.
(c) Avoid de-motivating employees because once they are de-motivated it is difficult to motivate them again. Employees are de-motivated when they are doing the same job for many years. Introduce staff rotation to allow for exposure to learn new activities.
(d) Allow employees to see a project through from start to finish.

5.8 Communication
(a) Interact equally with employees. Do not lead them into thinking that there is favouritism within the department.
(b) Listen to employee’s ideas and take them seriously.
(c) When in a meeting, give an employee your full attention. This makes an employee feel valued.
(d) Encourage feedback and exchange ideas by meeting in an informal basis with the employee.
(e) Technology plays a critical role in communicating corporate messages to all employees. For instance, the employees can learn about employment benefits, job openings and the latest product initiatives on the intranet.

5.9 Performance appraisal
(a) Performance appraisal is a two-way process as it includes the employ (appraisee) and the manager (appraiser).
(b) Performance appraisal must take place within the department’s policy on performance.

5.10 Staff development and training
(a) Staff development and training embraces the formal and informal acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes, thinking and habits required of an employee to render quality service and secure him/her a rewarding career.
(b) Practices that promote staff development include self-development, formal and informal training, career development, study aid, job rotation, job enrichment/enlargement and mentorship and coaching.
(c) Employees who obtain higher qualifications, should be given preference in the filling of vacant posts which require such qualifications.
(d) In a situation where the employee cannot be accommodated in a suitable post, his / her job should be reviewed with an intention of adding more responsibilities and re-evaluating the post to ensure the maximum utilization of the employee’s potential.

6. STAFF TURNOVER
(a) The high cost of staff turnover can be substantial. Not only there are the direct financial costs of replacing staff but also other repercussions such as the potential loss of key skills, knowledge and experience, disruption to operations and negative effect on workforce morale.
(b) High turnover represents a considerable burden both on human resource and line managers as they are constantly recruiting and training new staff.
(c) Ineffective utilization of positive reinforcements such as increases, promotions, bonuses and prizes as incentives for retaining employees and improving their performance.

7. SUCCESION PLANNING
Succession planning is fostering activities like job rotation to expose staff to the workings of the department. Rotating to more than one job is known as multiskilling.

Multiskilling
(a) Multiskilling is a process that organizes work in a manner that enables staff to acquire and use a greater range of skills.
(b) Multiskilling must be linked to the skills requirements of the department and should form part of its strategic empowerment and employment equity plans.
(c) Managers must ensure that all multiskilling efforts are properly planned and scheduled.

8. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
(a) The effectiveness of any retention strategy or technique needs to be evaluated and monitored.
(b) Methods to be used for this purpose are:
(i) Analysis of internal staff turnover trends; and
(ii) Analysis of labour market trends.

9. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
(a) An executing authority is responsible for determining and approving the awarding of salaries above the maximum range for the retention of employees with skills or experience in a scarce field (where recruitment is difficult) and employees from designated groups.
(b) The Manager: Human Resource Management is responsible for ensuring that the criteria to determine the retention of staff is followed.
(c) Line Managers are responsible for ensuring that the Department does not lose competent, scarce and skilled employees particularly with regard to employees from designated groups.

10. CONCLUSION
The Department recognizes that its most valuable asset is its human resources. A great deal of time and money is invested in the recruitment, training and development of employees and, as such, every effort should be made to retain those employees who have scarce/critical skills, and/or experience. The application of the various staff retention techniques will contribute to a more competent, motivated workforce and improved service delivery.

11. IMPLEMENTATION AND REVIEW
This policy is effective once approved. The Human Resource Management: Policy Formulation will review the policy on an annual basis.

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