Employee Retention Maintains Success for Company
WORKING FOR HIS EMPLOYEES: Chris Meyer, owner of Turner Roofing, is a strong advocate of a happy employee base.
Businesses must show appreciation to employees if the company wants to build a loyal workforce. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a bad hire can cost an employer 30 percent of the employee’s first-year earnings. On a larger scale, across multiple bad hires it is easy to see why high turnover rates can devastate a company.
Local technology company, Reliant, provides talent management software for companies in order to help increase employee retention.
“For employees to stay with a company, it’s important for them to see some kind of future,” says Dr. Chris Wright, of Tulsa-based Reliant. “For most employees, this means they want to receive meaningful performance feedback and know that the company has a career path for them to develop and grow.”
Wright works with companies across the nation such as Logan’s Roadhouse, Del Taco, and First Watch in order to help them improve employee engagement and retention. Oklahoma-based companies such as Love’s Travel Stops and Convenience Stores also use Reliant’s award-winning software.
“With our project for Love’s, they were able to use our software to create individualized learning tracks so employees can train for other positions,” says Wright. “Employees who are willing to work hard and take the initiative to learn have great opportunities for growth and development.” These types of programs also help companies like Love’s promote from within and reduce their reliance on external talent.
Reliant isn’t the only company in Tulsa wanting to increase employee retention rates. Turner Roofing has been in business for 50 years and strives to create a work climate that employees enjoy.
“We recognize that good employees are hard to come by,” says Chris Meyer, owner of Turner Roofing. “Therefore, it’s my job to make sure our employees are happy and want to come to work every day.”
In fact, 15 of Turner Roofing’s employees have been with the company for more than 10 years, while six have been serving Turner for more than 20 years.
“We always try to promote from within,” says Meyer. “Each one of our salespeople started as roofers. This way, they know the product and feel attached to the company.”
Meyer has also created a non-competitive atmosphere among his sales team.
“My employees do not work off of commission. It’s more important for them to help each other and provide the best service and best products to our customers,” says Meyer.
Meyer also believes that customers have remained loyal to the company because some of his employees have been with the company so long.
“By keeping the same employees, customers build relationships with my employees and are able to trust them,” says Meyer.
With the belief that employee retention not only helps a company internally but aids customer loyalty, Turner Roofing strives to make good hiring decisions and keep good employees.
“It all works together,” says Wright. “Good employees create a good company with a good customer base. More companies would thrive if they would pay attention to this cycle.”
Updated 06-28-2016
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