Retention management & employee loyalty: the main thing is feelgood?

Employees Finding is not difficult, keeping good ones is even more so - could be the motto of many companies. But what do companies do to keep their good employees? And which companies are special successfully?

How does retention management work?

LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke goes unusual waysto get to know employees and business partners better: He is on the move. "Special experiences with hiking or eating together weld people together," says Guericke, who has worked in various companies after LinkedIn and is now a partner in Berlin-based venture capitalist Earlybird. "It's about building trust," he explains his philosophy, which could be the credo of employee retention - and this is urgently needed in the dynamic IT and digital industry. Because according to a current study by Bitkom, there is a total lack of 41.000 IT specialists in Germany, just in the ITCIndustry 16.500 positions are vacant. But frequent fluctuation is also a hindrance growth and innovative strength - for example through constant new training or because of the bureaucratic effort. For example, companies are obliged to “archive personnel files for 10 years and keep them available at all times”, as Regina Mühlich, data protection officer at AdOrga Solutions, explains.

It is therefore not only important for companies to find good employees, but also to retain them in the long term. According to a study by the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, 37% of the companies surveyed rely on financial incentives for retention management, another 37% on an improvement in corporate culture, and 13% each pay attention to a positive management culture and take care of it Work-learn-Life-Integration. The study also shows that employees cannot be retained in the long term solely through financial incentives. More successful are those companies in which the employees also personally identify strongly with their job.

From start-up to long-established family businesses

Who does employee retention better? Startups or long-established family businesses? In my contribution, I therefore examine four companies of different sizes and characteristics, some of which have very different characteristics Strategies of employee retention work:

1. The Berliner Fonpit AG with 64 employees offers quasi fun and benefits in the start-up
2. TravelBird, based in Amsterdam and with German investors (Global Founders Capital by Oliver and Marc Samwer and Fabian Siegel), no longer tries to get its almost 600 employees around one table. Instead, it offers an employee referral program and its own academy for growth.
3. TransferWise, a London-based company founded by two Estonians with Skyp roots, is well-known and has given investors such as the Facebook-Investor Peter Thiel and Virgin founder Richard Branson as well as his European Tech StartUp Award - and extraordinary striptease actions in London and New York.
4. The 80-year-old Munich communication technology specialist Rohde und Schwarz, a family company with around 10.000 employees, ultimately has a fluctuation rate of less than one percent and invests heavily in its employees: in induction (at least 1 year), vocational training (practically all become trainees taken over) and even study financing for trainees who want to go back to university.

Fun and benefits in the startup

Feel Good Management is a current trend that aims to make this possible. The Berlin-based Fonepit AG with 64 employees has hired a feel-good manager who takes care of the well-being of the employees. She organizes weekly, often self-prepared lunches that everyone eats together, monthly after-work events, employee parties, joint ones Teambuilding– and sports and also takes care of health management in cooperation with a health insurance company. In order to create additional incentives, there are also rewards for reaching or exceeding the traffic goals, ranging from a daily lunch together to a weekend trip to Mallorca or a new mobile phone if a new colleague is successfully recommended.

Because: “It is not easy for us either to find and keep the right employees”, explains HRManager Claudia Schlüns. "Demands are becoming more differentiated and we also have to respond to individual wishes." That is why there are regular employee surveys and talks as well as further training opportunities: “We to plan German courses for the many foreign colleagues, a dual course of study would also be conceivable because we have had very good experiences with working students," says Schlüns. This trend will follow Opinions greatly underestimated by Monika Kraus-Wildegger. On Goodplace.org, she makes companies with a feel-good work culture visible and states: "It's not just about fun and sport, but much more about structural changes in which employees want to participate. But not every company is ready for this.”

Referral program and own academy for growth

All employees at one table to strengthen the sense of community while eating is a Conceptwhich no longer works for TravelBird. The Amsterdam-based company, whose investors include Oliver and Marc Samwer's Global Founders Capital and Fabian Siegel, grew from 170 to almost 600 employees last year, 70 of them from Germany alone. “Our young employees want to grow with the company; we therefore offer constant opportunities for further development and advancement, ”says Ingrid Leonhardt, who as one of 14 international recruiters mainly looks after the German employees and explains:“Objective is that every employee works in the best place for them. "

Therefore there is a referral program in which employees find suitable new colleagues - if they prove themselves, there is a bonus. And with its own academy, TravelBird Leadership or Sales Training, technical further education and creative workshops. "We employ five coaches who have practical experience and develop tailor-made training courses that can be consulted at any time," explains Leonhardt. On the other hand, the cooperation with universities is still in its infancy at TravelBird: "We work together with universities for events, have already organized hackathons or our employees give lectures," says the recruiter, adding: "But in the long term, this is an option for sure more opportunities to connect with potential employees.”

Fun factor for employees must be

But also that Funfactor is not neglected at TravelBird: The company offers a restaurant with healthy food, freshly squeezed juices, smoothies and its own coffee bar, which is practically free, as well as a health program with yoga classes, a masseur twice a week and a boot camp with a personal trainer and a own football team. "We believe that employees who feel good are more likely to come to work and perform better," says Leonhardt. How much this is part of personnel marketing is shown by the bicycles that TravelBird makes available to its employees on a subsidized and discounted basis – provided with their own branded baskets. With the employees such come Measures, according to relevant surveys, good.

So shows a look at the Companyrating platform Glassdoor that healthy, free food, sports, but also the relaxed atmosphere are rated particularly positively - alongside some negative voices that reflect the high school and party atmosphere criticize. This agrees with the results of the study Recruiting-Trends from the University of Bamberg together with the job exchange Monster.de: For 94% of those surveyed Candidate A good working atmosphere is important, followed by flexible working time models and good career opportunities. And according to a study by the consulting company Universum, Google, which is associated with such options, has been the top employer in the IT industry for years.

Employer attractiveness: more than just awareness?

This also shows how important a certain awareness is as an employer, an aspect from which the London-based company TransferWise also benefits: It was founded by Estonians Taavet Hinrikus, formerly first employee at Skype and Kristo Käärmann, investors include Facebook-Investor Peter Thiel and Virgin-Founders Richard Branson, awarded the European Tech StartUp Award. As if that wasn't enough, the Estonians made with fancy ones Marketing-Campaigns attracted attention in which some of the 300 employees in London and New York undressed on the street and demonstrated against hidden bank charges under the motto "Nothing to Hide".

Käärmann also sees it as a good thing Methodto find exactly the right employees: “We expect that applicants are already using our product. And many users apply also because they think the product is cool. " But marketing is not everything, as Jan Kirchner, managing director of the Wollmilchsau personnel marketing agency, explains: “An employer brand is only sustainable if the company lives the employer promises communicated in personnel marketing on career prospects, corporate culture and corporate values ​​in practice. If the promises turn out to be empty phrases in everyday work, the employer himself torpedoes employee loyalty and fuels employee turnover. "

Vocational training and student finance with structure

If you follow the management consultant Anne Schüller, such empty phrases have an immediate effect negative Impact: “For example, who lacks something positive, who instead awareness , recognition and Respect especially disinterest, humiliation and disappointment experienced, and who has nothing more to do verlieren who migrates into disloyalty” According to Schüller, uncommitted, disloyal employees are the biggest killers of a company's sales – not only because they work worse themselves, but also because they pull others along with them. The danger is greatest where there is no fairness, no closeness and no ties due to the constant change. For Axel Stadtelmeyer, Managing Director of the recruitment agency Young IT Professionals in Heidelberg, this is also the place to be Solution of the problem: “Many are looking for the perfect one Candidates. But companies should rather go to the Further Training their employees invest and actively pursue talent management, then they don’t even have to look for it.” This is exactly where the Munich communications technology specialist Rohde und Schwarz comes in:

The 80-year-old family company with around 10.000 employees has a fluctuation rate of less than one percent, but invests at least a year in training its employees. For Carolin Unger, Head of Personnel Marketing and Recruitment, employee retention is above all a question of the right framework conditions: “For example, we regularly look at developments on the market in terms of salary structures and benefits. In addition, we also offer comprehensive social benefits and health management, e.g. B. with leasing bike, own fitness studio, physiotherapy and health days, cultural and leisure activities and kindergarten places. This is the only way to be and remain a market leader,” she explains. With a comprehensive further training structure of over 200 offers per year and 30 trainees, Rohde & Schwarz is also very active in employee qualification. “As a rule, all trainees are taken on. For those trainees who are willing to study, we offer the model of combined studies at the University Dual, there is also a funding program for those interested who already have one Vocational Training and a go-for master's program for bachelor's graduates," says Unger, who also works with universities on a regular basis Contact to young talents: "We also offer excursions for students, award research contracts, provide laboratory or equipment for students, send employees as lecturers, offer internships or organize competitions".

Conclusion: retention management is not a one-way street

The examples show: Retention Management is a multi-dimensional concept. It is important for companies to select the right and suitable measures for their own needs. In smaller companies, these are more playful and there is still room for experiments. The larger and more experienced the company, the more structured is targeted retention management up to and including student financing. One should clear Be: In the end, those companies are successful that make it clear to their employees that their work makes sense and offer them optimal development opportunities and working conditions.