path, which allows them to take ownership of their future. And to
that end, hypothetical compensation levels are transparent and available to all employees, so everyone has an idea of what figure is attached to what level. “People really like that transparency,” she says.
In addition, one of the firm’s biggest annual community-build-ing efforts takes place online—namely, the firm’s annual vacation
photography contest, which Doughtie says attracts more than
4,000 photos from employees. “I think that [gets] more hits than
any other article [on our intranet],” she says.
KPMG consultants are not only building their online community, but they’re reaching out to real-life communities in need,
Doughtie says. “The thing that we’re really trying to build here at
KPMG is a value-based culture,” she says, adding some employees spent two weeks together helping Hurricane Katrina victims.
KPMG consultants also are helping their co-workers. The firm
has a vacation-donation program, and recently employees helped
out a co-worker who needed to take a leave because his son was ill.
How does this translate into retention? Of the man who needed the
vacation time, Doughtie says, “his loyalty [is] to our firm because of
what all those individuals did for him,” she says, adding it’s often the
intangible efforts that compel employees to remain at a company.
Out of Office
Retention is something that’s even harder to address when it comes
to the next generation of employees. Research by college recruitment Web site Experience found that graduates stay at their first
job for 1. 6 years. That’s why, according to Girault, work-life balance isn’t just about new parents. Millenials, she says, are looking
for companies that understand that need for balance. “Now it’s
very competitive around what are you doing to maintain a quality
of life,” Girault says. To that end, managers are notified when employees have accrued the maximum amount of time off. “It’s a
business issue,” Girault says. “We’re just not trying to be nice. If
people don’t take their vacation time, they’re going to burn out. If
we want to attract the best and retain the top performers, it really
needs to be a culture that makes people want to work here.”
Making Millenials happy also is on the minds of KPMG leadership. At the firm’s recent town hall meeting, not only was popular comedian Stephen Colbert a speaker, but an intern also was
going to addressed the firm-wide meeting to discuss what attracted
her to the firm—namely a speech a KPMG employee once gave
about ethics. During the town hall, the firm also showed videos of
new hires and interns at the company.
The feel-good efforts by firms like PwC and KPMG do more
than make employees appreciate where they work. Since it’s far less
expensive—and often more desirable—to keep a current employee
than to hire a new one, instituting these proportionally inexpensive
programs makes good business sense. In fact, companies should be
looking at retention strategies that center on values, recognition, benefits and employee development instead of compensation because,
according to HR Magazine, 90 percent of employees give a reason
other than pay as to reason for their departure. “People feeling valued and treated well has less to do with compensation than with
some of the intangibles,” Doughtie says. C
Road Warriors Reap the
Benefits at Crowe Chizek
Crowe Chizek, a public accounting and consultancy
firm, is realistic about travel in the industry. The firm
also recognizes that employees who travel too much
can burn out and leave a firm. “We know that in our
industry we’re just never going to eliminate that so
what can we do to make this easier for people?” Jane
Hoff, human resources leader at Crowe, says the firm
asked itself. Tying into the firm’s value structure of
“care, share, invest and grow,” Crowe started its Road
Warriors program in 2006. The concept is simple, Hoff
says. “What we have done although knowing that we
can’t eliminate travel for people is implement some
programs to make the pain of travel maybe a bit less
painful,” Hoff says. “And so [Road Warriors is] just various programs or perks, so to speak.”
Those perks range from the small, like getting reimbursed for dry cleaning expenses on the road, to
the large, like paying for weekend travel to or from a
chosen destination while spending weekdays at the
client site. So, for example, Hoff says, “if you’re traveling extensively, we will fly your family for the weekend to your location if you choose that, or we will fly
you to another location to spend the weekend.”
Courtney Bolka, a senior staff accountant based
in Fort Lauderdale who participates in the program
says she is thankful for those perks. On the road
about eights months a year total, Bolka says the
weekend travel and free BlackBerry program are her
two favorite perks. And when asked if it’s compelled
her to stay loyal to the firm where she’s spent the
past two years, she says yes, adding that the travel
program in particular, makes her feel valued as an
employee. “It shows the appreciation for the people
traveling,” she says. —J.D.
