Zhike Lei Co-authors Harvard Business Review Article on How Managers Can Retain Talent

The pandemic has created a talent war for businesses across all industries. Hiring managers are exploring incentives, such as signing bonuses and increasing base pay for entry-level positions, to attract employees. However, these approaches only work on filling vacant positions, not retaining value-employees. Zhike Lei cautions managers on “dysfunctional retention” of reluctant talent, an employee who prefers to leave but ends up staying and performing poorly. “Rather than relying heavily on one-time incentives that are best a knee-jerk reaction to keep bodies in seats, organizations need to take a hard look at how to identify and create engaged enthusiastic employees,” Lei advises. 

Lei and co-authors, Brooks Holtom, Cody Reeves, and Tiffany Darabi, conducted a study of more than 450 employees at two non-profit organizations for two years where they studied turnover intentions and employee engagement. Their study found that more than a third of employees were “engaged at work.” Their research found employees that are not enthusiastic about their workplace are often not committed to their workplace and interested in leaving. Lei’s provides tips on how managers can successfully engage employees, create enthusiastic workers, and in turn, increase the odds of retaining the right talent. 

The full article is available at the Harvard Business Review.