Aside from bringing in massage therapists every Friday or paying for employees' dry cleaning, there are a few essentials to keep your staff from defecting to other companies. Key to knowing these is understanding why they leave in the first place. Bruce Tulgan, author of Managing Generation X, shares the top reasons employees leave-and how to turn them to your advantage.

MANAGERS Most employees leave because of conflicts with a boss or manager. To avoid this, supervisors should act as performance coaches. When a top employee and his manager still don't get along, try moving the person into another supervisor's group instead of letting the employee abandon ship without a fight.

SCHEDULE Good workers are almost always willing to put in the time necessary to do their jobs. But often they simply want to do so on flextime or in a compressed work week. Tulgan has found that even a slight adjustment in schedule is often enough to make an employee stay.

WORK Many employees leave because they are no longer challenged by their jobs. Be sure to address this-and work to offer your brightest people new projects.

SKILLS When people have exhausted the learning opportunities where they are, they often leave in search of new ones. Keep your people learning and you will keep them longer. Tulgan points out that this doesn't necessarily mean formal training programs or financial support for external education. It could include simply providing access to learning resources and fostering a corporate culture that values knowledge.

LOCATION Sometimes people want or need to work in a different place. Larger companies with several offices should try to accommodate employees when they can. Sometimes all a person wants is the ability to work at home part of the time. Keeping star employees as telecommuters is usually better than losing them altogether.

Source: SMARTBUSINESSMAG.COM, July 2000

Nucor Corp., a Charlotte, N.C., steel manufacturer, has offered $2,200 a year toward college tuition for all children of full-time workers for up to four years. To further drive home its image of being an "employer of choice" in its area, the company expanded the benefit to reach all workers. It decided to include spouses of employees, who can receive $1,100 a year for up to two years.

The payoff is clear, said Nucor president John Correnti. The benefit keeps employee turnover "practically at zero."

Bottom line: Your company can offer a smaller dollar amount and net similar results, benefits managers say.

Source: "Benefits: The New Way To Raise Pay?" by Laura Litvan, Investor's Business Daily.

The authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk share their thoughts on how to retain employees-even in high turnover industries.

Three tips resonate in the comments of all these successful retention strategists:

• Hire for company fit. Tell employees early on what your values are and live out those values in their training and orientation.
• Manage the first week intensively. Structure the new employee's experiences and let them "catch other employees' enthusiasm for the company.
• Make sure they know that they can grow by staying with you.

Every organization's approach to retention will reflect its own culture. Beyond that, Kaye and Jordan-Evans suggest taking the greatest, most creative risk of all in figuring out what will keep your talented workers: "Ask them."

People don't leave organizations. They leave managers who continually fail them in some important respect.

Source: Bill Catelette and Richard Hadden

Health benefits, 401(k) plans, and paid vacation time -- those perks are expected. Here's what companies offer to keep their employees happy and productive.

Professional Development 94%

Relocation Benefits 68%

Dependent-Care Flexible-Spending Account 64%

Casual-Dress Days 58%

Flextime 53%

Paid Maternity Leave 49%

Cell Phone or Pager for Personal Use 37%

Telecommuting 28%

Compressed Work Weeks 23%

Fitness Center Subsidy 23%

Paid Paternity Leaves 20%

Massage Therapy Services 8%

Source: SHRM Benefits Survey

Mark your calendars! The MHA Service Corporation, in cooperation with the Healthcare Human Resources Association (HHRA) and the Michigan Healthcare Human Resources Association (MHHRA) is sponsoring the "First Annual Michigan Statewide Healthcare H.R. Conference: on March 22-23, 2001. This exciting new conference will be held in East Lansing and the program will be highlighted with a number of nationally recognized speakers and authors in the Human Resources profession. This two day training conference is centrally located and will be packed with several workshops on timely human resources topics that effect all healthcare H.R. professionals. There will be a variety of topics on the program including information for senior H.R. executives dealing with strategic issues and for managers, which will include relevant topics on H.R. operations. Both ASHHRA chapters here in Michigan, with the generous sponsorship of the MHA Service Corporation, will be working hard over the next few months to prepare an exciting statewide conference with training workshops that will be useful for H.R. professionals at all levels in the organization. National speakers, a chance to network with your peers from around the state in East Lansing and two days of substantial training on timely human resources issues. Don't miss it. Mark your calendars now and look for additional information in your mailbox soon.

For more information contact Steve O'Connor at the MHA Services Corporation at (517) 485-3240 or email him at soconnor@lans.mha.org. See you in East Lansing in March!