Retention specialists might work in the corporate world to maintain existing customers, at a college to help students stay in school, or at a business to address employee turnover. The job can involve promoting loyalty to a workplace, college, or product. Retention specialists typically analyze why employees or customers leave and implement programs to reverse the trend.
Employee turnover can be costly and disruptive to large or small businesses. Advertising, recruiting, and training new workers might put a strain on budgets and the workload of other employees. A retention specialist tries to attract and keep valuable employees. Some companies name an existing worker to the post, while others might hire a person to do the job or use a consulting firm.
Low job satisfaction might cause an employee to seek a job change and lead to absenteeism. The retention specialist might analyze unmet needs of the employee to discover strategies to increase job satisfaction. He or she might implement additional training to foster employee growth and opportunity for advancement in the workplace. A retention program might also include an employee recognition program to reward valuable staff members for exceptional performance.
This employee retention specialist typically weighs the cost of turnover against the expense of implementing programs to increase employee loyalty. Mentoring programs might prove successful to help newly hired workers adjust to their new jobs. Company-wide enhancements in communication efforts could promote teamwork and improve retention rates.
Some companies offer flexible schedules to attract employees who need to balance work and family responsibilities. Management might look at the financial, lifestyle, and parenting issues workers face and develop programs to meet those needs. Parenting responsibilities might be eased via flexible schedules or by allowing parents to work from home.
A student retention specialist generally works with students in danger of dropping out of school. He or she might assist with time management skills to increase the amount of time students devote to study. Some colleges offer test-taking tips to reduce anxiety and help students succeed, along with strategies for note-taking during lectures. Additional programs might improve writing skills for students weak in that area.
Customer retention specialists address customer complaints and work to resolve issues to maintain a healthy client list. They might contact a customer who cancels a service to explore ways to keep the customer’s business. Customer retention specialists also might contact purchasers when their rate of buying drops off.