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Our Approach to Employee Retention


The conventional wisdom about employee retention is that it's all about pay, benefits and working conditions.

In other words, all that organizations need to do to keep their people is to pay their people well, provide a best in class benefits platform, and offer a plethora of perks and morale boosters, such as an on-site day care center.

At the Cenek Company, we believe that retention is significantly more complicated than that, and organizations that blindly follow such retention strategies are often met with unintended consequences. We see retention being influenced by a constellation of forces and factors that are embedded in the organization, the individual, and the community.

Not all retention is positive.

Retention is positive when it involves keeping good employees, and helping marginal employees improve or move on. It's positive when it's the byproduct of an engaged - and not just satisfied workforce.

Retention is negative if it unwittingly facilitates the continued employment of marginal or poor performers, or if it furthers an insular work culture that resists innovation and new ideas.

It's all about employee engagement!

The most effective and admittedly difficult mechanism that organizations have under their control for furthering employee retention is to create the conditions for an engaged - and not just happy - workforce.

We are absolutely convinced that these ideas and principles are very important considerations when addressing the issue of retention in any organization.

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Employee Retention


For most firms and industries, employee retention is increasingly becoming a very important issue in human capital management.

First, the link between high turnover and low financial performance is strong. High rates of employee turnover can be devastating to a firm's profitability and reputation as an employer.

Second, as the U.S. economy continues to grow and more and more baby boomers retire, retention and turnover issues will become ever more critical within organizations. Understanding who is leaving - and why - will be critical to creating or maintaining a competitive advantage.

The Cenek Company offers ExitScan™ and StayScan™ to organizations desiring a cost effective and accurate method of understanding why employees leave - and why employees stay with their organization.

Robert Cenek of the Cenek Company has been building strong leaders and organizations since 1979. Much of this work has involved creating the conditions necessary for firms to attract, recruit and retain high caliber, high performing employees. Much of the wisdom that he has acquired through those experiences has been integrated into the Cenek Company's suite of products and services relating to employee retention.

About ExitScan™


ExitScan™ is an exit interview and survey service that incorporates the latest research findings on turnover and retention. Pop psychology-free, our methods enable organizations to increase the accuracy and candor of their former employees stated reasons for leaving, either through either a web or paper-based survey, or through a live interview, either in person or via the telephone.

Key features of ExitScan™ include:

  • Off the shelf - or totally customized solutions with an unparalleled price/value relationship

  • Web-based, 24 x 7 availability for the survey only option, with a user friendly interface for respondents

  • Proprietary techniques that increase the level of participation by respondents

  • Carefully selected, SPHR certified professionals to conduct telephone (or in-person) interview when this option is selected

  • Survey and interview questions that reflect the latest research relating to retention and turnover

  • A limited amount of follow up consulting, at no additional charge, to facilitate the interpretation of data and trends

About StayScan™


It's been said that it cost three times more to recruit a new employee than it does to retain a current employee.

Like businesses that realize that it costs more to find a new customer than to retain a current one, stay interviews are an invaluable means of helping to build a productive, engaged and loyal workforce.

Relying on exit interviews or surveys alone will enable an organization to determine why valued employees have left, but a more proactive activity may be to learn what can help to keep an organization's best talent from walking out the door.

StayScan™ is a Cenek Company service offering that uses survey and/or interview-based methods to identify the key threats to retaining any organization's talent.

Key features of StayScan™ include:

  • Off the shelf - or totally customized solutions with unparalleled price/value relationship

  • Carefully selected, SPHR certified professionals to conduct telephone (or in-person) interview when this option is selected

  • Survey and interview questions that are based on the latest research relating to retention and the principal drivers of employee engagement

  • A design architecture that promotes confidentiality and employee candor

  • Follow up consulting to facilitate the interpretation of data and trends - at no additional cost

In-Person or Telephone-based Interviews


In-person or telephone-based interviews are available to organizations (or Boards of Directors) that wish to devote more resources to understanding the reason(s) for employee departures.

Builder of Strong Leaders and Organizations Since 1979
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