1. How to
Retain and
Motivate Staff
Tom Vovers December 2013

2. Who is this guy?
“HR Veteran working
across industry in
Viet Nam”
2013
2007
2003
2002
Australia
Viet Nam
Thailand
Singapore
Cambodia
Myanmar
Pakistan
India
2001
1996
1993
1991
1989

3. What do you know about HR2B?
HR2B "Human Resources to Business"
is a professional services company
focusing on HR in Viet Nam.
HR2B has deep
practical experience of
the Viet Nam market
that enables us to
create Search results
that last.

4. Agenda
Measurement
Costs
5 Actions

5. Measurement

6. What gets Measured gets
Managed
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Retention rate
Turnover rate
Voluntary turnover rate
Average LOS of current employees
Average LOS of Leavers
Special characteristics Leavers
Vacancy rate.

7. Retention Rate
Number of
stayers
Divided
by
Number of
personnel at
beginning of
period
( 90
÷
100 )
Times 100
X
Equals
Your retention
rate
=
90%
100
Calculating your retention rate (stayers)
The number of “stayers” (employees who remain at the end of
calculation period) divided by the number of employees you had at
the beginning of your calculation period times 100 equals your
retention rate.
Example of Retention Rate Calculation
If you have 100 employees starting the first day of the month, and
90 employees at the end of the month, you have lost 10 of
employees. Your retention rate is 90 percent.

8. Turnover Rate
Number of
leavers
Divided
by
Number of
people
employed
( 50
÷
175 )
Times 100
X
100
Equals
Your turnover
rate
=
28.6%
Calculating your turnover rate (leavers)
The number of “leavers” (employees terminating during your calculation
period) divided by the total number of people employed during your
calculation period times 100 equals your turnover rate.
Example of Turnover Rate Calculation
You had 175 people in your employment in January. Fifty employees
left by the end of the month. A simple turnover rate is 50 divided by 175,
which equals 28.6 percent.

9. Voluntary Turnover
Number of
voluntary
leavers
Divided by
Number of
people
employed
( 12
÷
175 )
Times 100
X
100
Equals
Your voluntary
turnover rate
=
6.9%
Calculating your voluntary turnover rate
The number of employees who left voluntarily divided by the number of employees you had during
your calculation period times 100 equals the voluntary turnover rate.
Example of Voluntary Turnover Rate Calculation
Fifty total employees left, but only 12 were dissatisfied with the organizational policy, compensation,
and/or career opportunities. Good exit interview strategies should help you determine which
employees terminated voluntarily.
Involuntary - Of the other 38, 15 left when you cut a department, 7 women followed their husbands to
another part of VietNam, 11 were terminated for poor performance, and 5 became ill and could no
longer work. These numbers indicate involuntary turnover.

10. Average Length of Service
Total months
“stayed”
Divided by
Number of current
employees
Equals
Average tenure of
“stayers”
122
÷
10
=
12.2 months
Calculating the average tenure of your employees
To compute the average tenure of workers, list each worker and the number of months the
worker has been at the organization. In this example, the time period is calculated in
months. Your tenure rate can be calculated by months, years, or other time periods.
The sum of months worked by all current employees divided by the number of employees
you have today equals the tenure of “stayers”.

11. Average LOS - Leavers
Total months
worked
Divided by
Number of “leavers”
Equals
Average tenure of
“leavers”
123
÷
13
=
9.46 months
A calculation on longevity (total number of months worked before quitting) may highlight
the point at which employees “fall off”, allowing you to rethink your organizational
response. It may be useful for you to identify the average tenure of employees who left
within the previous 12 months, or within any time frame that accurately represents the
trend you are researching.
Calculating the average tenure of your leavers
The sum of months worked by “leavers” who worked in the last 12 months and resigned
before today divided by the total number of “leavers” who worked in the last 12 months
and resigned before today equals the average tenure of employees who have left over
the previous 12 months.

12. ‘Special’ Characteristics Rate
Number of
leavers
supervised
by Phuc
Divided
by
Total number of
leavers
(3
÷
12 )
Times 100
X
100
Equals
Your turnover
rate for Phuc
=
25%
Calculating special characteristics of “leavers”
The number of “leavers” that display the identified characteristic divided by the total number
“leavers” during the calculation period times 100 equals the voluntary turnover rate for that special
characteristic.
Example of Special Characteristics Calculations
For this example, we will look at the number of employees supervised by Mary Jones who leave
voluntarily. Of the 12 employees who voluntarily left the organization, 3 were supervised by
Nguyen Thanh Phuc..

13. Vacancy Rate
Number of
vacant
positions
Divided by
Total number of
positions
(7
÷
25 )
Multiplied by
100
X
100
Equals
Your vacancy
rate
=
28%
For some positions, you may wish to determine a vacancy rate to see if there is a trend in a
job position. Or, you may wish to determine your overall vacancy rate to see if there is a
trend in your organization.
Calculating your vacancy rate
The number of vacant job-specific positions (or positions within the whole organization),
divided by the total number of job-specific positions (or within the whole organization),
multiplied by 100 equals your vacancy rate.

14. Using Measurement
Tracking - Start today
Reporting - Agree with your boss
Managing - Add to Managers life
Sharing - Community

15. Cost
Turnover - so what?

16. Measuring Cost
Direct Costs
Opportunity Costs
● Relatively easy to
measure with lower
error of measurement
● Focus on process /
transactional
improvements
● Easy to use to get what
you want from
management.
● Requires estimates,
scenario planning
● Focus on long‐term and
strategic management
issues
● Harder to use, but don’t
ignore

17. Calculating Cost of Turnover
1. Costs to off‐board
employee.
2. Cost‐per‐hire for
replacement.
3. Transition costs,
including opportunity
costs.
4. Costs from long‐term
disruption of talent
pipeline.

18. Short Cut Turnover Cost
Turnover costs are often estimated to be
● 100%
● 300%
● of the annual base salary
● of replaced employee
(150% commonly used)

19. Action
How to Retain and Motivate Staff

20. What can you do about Turnover?
Desirable
Redundancy.
End of Contract
“Natural” Turnover
UnDesirable
Voluntary Turnover
Voluntary Turnover
Expected
Unexpected

21. 5 Ways to Retain and Motivate
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Employee Value Proposition
Onboarding
Performance Management
Employee Engagement
Career Paths for Top Talent

22. 1) EVP - Firing Starts with Hiring
For employees, the EVP – Employee Value
Proposition – explains why candidates choose
to work for you rather than other potential
employers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attract some, repel others.
Focus recruitment efforts.
Improve Selection.
Speed up integration of new person.

24. 2) Onboarding
An effective onboarding process:
1. Analyzes and efficiently addresses skill gaps required to
meet performance standard
2. Provides organizational positioning skills
3. Aligns with organizational values and culture
Effective onboarding enables
faster cultural integration and
achievement of performance
standards. It can significantly
reduce transition costs

25. 3) Performance Management
Aligns performance with strategic direction of
the company
1. Optimizes performance contribution of
employees
2. Shapes organizational culture
3. Fully engages employees
It all comes down to conversations. Every
decision made about performance
management should be framed by asking,
“Will this help or hinder meaningful
conversations.”

26. 4) Employee Engagement
Drivers
1. Strategic Alignment
2. Trust in Senior Leadership
3. Immediate Manager Working Relationship
4. Peer Culture
5. Personal Influence
6. Career Support
7. Developmental Opportunities
8. Employee Recognition
9. Pay Fairness

28. 5) Different Career Paths
High Potentials
Top Talent on generalist career track
Require a high degree of learning agility
High Professionals
Top Talent on a specialist career track
Have specialized expertise developed over years of focused
development
Emerging Talent
Early career talent with all characteristics of Top Talent but limited
developmental experiences and possibly undetermined career path

29. Thanks for Coming
Good luck in
Retaining and
Motivating your Staff !