I quickly learned, of course, that this is not true at all. While tenured employees make a higher wage and have accumulated better benefits, they also cost far less to keep trained, they generate higher revenues through more repeat business and a stronger customer base, and they are typically more engaged in their work.

To gain ground in the “War for Talent,” we must see our employees as investments that we need to protect and utilize fully, in the same way we manage the other assets of our properties. Taking this view will change your mindset about how to manage employee programs. Instead of just seeing competitive pay as fundamental to employee retention, you’ll start to see how working conditions and benefit programs may really be the things that can have more of an impact on keeping good workers on staff.

The choices are really simple: We can either engage our employees, or we can let things take their course. It’s a good bet we’ll lose business and profits if we choose the latter.

If you don’t have an “exit interview” program already in place, I highly encourage you to start one. I’ve often found out, through these interviews, that an employee has left for an entirely different reason than I first surmised. Plus, employees who are leaving have nothing to lose—so these interviews often provide very candid “scoops” on other matters that can only help you improve your operation.

The level of disconnect between why managers think they lose people, and why employees actually leave, is shocking. One study showed that 90 percent of managers felt employees leave or stay strictly for better opportunities or higher pay. But another study, of 20,000 employees from 18 industries, found that for over 80 percent of them, issues related to job conditions, the work culture, or their managers and supervisors were what pushed them out the door.

The last factor highlights how “people join companies, but they leave managers.” We have to provide the direction and vision that will properly motivate our workforce and develop the trust that is needed. Employees will only follow if they respect, and believe in, the individuals they report to.

Recognizing that all of these “push factors” are much more important than “pull factors”—and finding out where they exist in your organization—is another key first step in creating meaningful forms of incentive and recognition.

And sometimes, that decision is never made, creating possibly the worst situation of all in terms of how it affects service to your members and guests. A disengaged employee who’s still “working” for you is uncommitted, marginally productive, and frequently absent. Inevitably he or she will generate other disengaged workers and foster a real sickness within your organization. But even a single disengaged employee can have a negative impact, creating disappointed guests who then choose to go elsewhere. And in our business, like any other, it is far more costly to recruit a new customer than it is to keep one.

So it’s far better to have an employee who quits and leaves, rather than one who quits and stays.

And we have to back that commitment with real dollars. It’s been estimated that the average cost of losing an employee is one times their annual salary. So a club with 200 employees, average pay of $30,000 per employee, and a turnover rate of 15 percent will lose $1 million a year in turnover costs—and probably much more, if you add the potential cost from the negative impact of inconsistent service that leads to lost customers or members.

This should be reason alone to commit sufficient resources to employee incentive and recognition programs. But too often, incentives are designed to minimize the upside for employees. To have a fighting chance in the war for talent, we must be more generous in sharing the rewards of peak performance.

It must be recognized, though, that increasingly, these reasons are becoming more and more personal for each worker. So our focus when developing incentive and recognition programs must respect the individual differences of our employees, or smaller groups of them.

What motivates a grounds crew, after all, can be far different than what motivates wait staffs or back-of-the-house workers. So recognition pro-grams should be tailored accordingly.

This is a departure from the traditional “one size fits all” approach, and requires a lot of additional time and effort. But it’s the only way to properly shape incentives and rewards that will be more meaningful and effective, compared to standardized plans.

The best way to customize and personalize programs, of course, is to engage employees in their development. Getting them involved in the process will give them a sense of ownership, and keep them interested.

In fact, when I managed a private club with a highly tenured staff, one of my biggest challenges was providing a workplace where they stayed motivated and engaged, and didn’t become bored or complacent.

Incentive and recognition programs must be developed with a genuine attitude of caring and concern for employees, and reflect what they really desire. Otherwise, they will quickly be recognized as “sell tactics” and scam, and meet with quick and firm resistance from everyone they’re intended to motivate. C&RB

Don E. Vance is a member of the Club & Resort Business Advisory Board and a regular contributor of “Today’s Manager” articles. To comment on this story, ask questions, or suggest future topics, write to Don at editor@clubandresortbusiness.com