Nalbantian Haig R, Szostak Anne
FleetBoston Financial, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2004 Apr;82(4):116-22, 124-5, 142.
In the late 1990s, Fleet Bank was facing high and rising employee turnover, particularly in its retail operations. Overall turnover had reached 25% annually, and among some groups, such as tellers and customer service reps, turnover was as high as 40%. Using a new methodology developed by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Fleet set out to determine why so many employees were leaving and what could be done to retain them. It began examining data from HR, finance, operations, and sales about employee behavior and the factors that influence it in different locations and labor markets, departments or work groups, in positions with different pay and benefits, and under different supervisors. Fleet's analysis showed that people were leaving not so much for better pay--their personal testimony notwithstanding--but for broader experience, which they thought would enhance their marketability. Additionally, the analysis revealed a link between the turnover problem and the company's busy history of mergers and acquisitions. Fleet's mergers and acquisitions. frequently meant that it had to consolidate operations. That consolidation resulted in layoffs, which provoked higher levels of voluntary turnover, perhaps because remaining employees began worrying about their job security. While the obvious solution to the turnover problem might have been to compensate the remaining employees--say, with higher pay--the more effective and less costly solution, Fleet discovered, was to focus on employees' career opportunities within the company. Those who moved up the hierarchy, or who even made lateral moves, stayed longer. By offering better internal opportunities for career development, the bank was able to stanch much of the hemorrhaging in personnel. Its solutions required only modest investments, which in the end saved the company millions of dollars.
20世纪90年代末，舰队银行面临着居高不下且不断上升的员工流失率，尤其是在其零售业务部门。整体员工流失率已达每年25%，在一些群体中，如柜员和客户服务代表，流失率高达40%。利用美世人力资源咨询公司开发的一种新方法，舰队银行着手确定为何有如此多员工离职以及如何才能留住他们。它开始研究来自人力资源、财务、运营和销售部门的关于员工行为以及在不同地点和劳动力市场、部门或工作小组、不同薪酬和福利岗位以及不同主管管理下影响员工行为的因素的数据。舰队银行的分析表明，人们离职并非主要为了更高的薪酬——尽管他们个人声称如此——而是为了更广泛的经验，他们认为这会提高自己的市场竞争力。此外，分析还揭示了员工流失问题与公司频繁的并购历史之间的联系。舰队银行的并购。常常意味着它不得不整合业务。这种整合导致了裁员，进而引发了更高的自愿离职率，或许是因为留下来的员工开始担心自己的工作保障。虽然解决员工流失问题的明显办法可能是给留下来的员工提供补偿——比如，提高薪酬——但舰队银行发现，更有效且成本更低的解决办法是关注公司内部员工的职业机会。那些晋升到更高层级，甚至是平级调动的员工，留任时间更长。通过提供更好的内部职业发展机会，银行得以止住了大量的人员流失。其解决方案只需要适度的投资，最终为公司节省了数百万美元。
