Grip Strength

Perhaps you’ve come across this. A simple health and longevity test that only takes a few seconds. It doesn’t require blood draws, EKGs, or body scans.

It provides insights into many aspects of your health: Cardiovascular health, bone mineral density, and cognitive health. Studies show that it may do an even better job of predicting mortality risk than your blood pressure.

It’s a grip test. Simply squeeze a tool called a dynamometer that measures your grip strength. The stronger your grip, the better your health and lower your risk of dying.

It’s a well-studied test. There are two theories about why it works:

• Healthy people have healthy systems, which contribute to a stronger grip.
• Healthy lifestyles often include gripping things.

Pretty commonsensical.

Organizations also have a grip strength test.

Organizations also have a grip test. It is quick to administer. It indicates an organization’s relative level of health quickly and accurately: Your employee retention and turnover rate.

Organizations with a ‘weak grip’ on their employees are almost always unhealthy. Those that retain their employees longer than industry averages are healthier. (There is an exception to this – I’ll address that below.)

The reasons why an employer’s ‘grip strength’ matters share a striking similarity to physical health:

• Healthy organizations have healthy cultures, which contribute to higher retention.
• Healthy cultures invariably include healthy relationship practices.

When I shake your hand, I check your grip.

As a consultant, one of the first things I look for in a company is how well they retain employees. I don’t always ask for this overtly. Few companies know how to self-evaluate well. But an employer’s ‘grip’ is soon apparent.

Turnover tells me a lot about organizational culture. Cultural health tells me a lot about management and leadership practices. On their own, neither turnover nor retention tells me precisely what is happening within an organization. But they are strong indicators of whether or not a deeper look is warranted and, often, where to look.

How is your grip strength? Here are five ways of measuring employee ‘grip’

1. Retention Rate: This is the most common metric, typically calculated annually. The formula is: Retention Rate = (Number of employees who remained employed for the entire period / Total number of employees at start of period) x 100. For example, if you started the year with 100 employees and 90 remained employed the whole year, your retention rate would be 90%.
2. Turnover Rate: This is the inverse of the retention rate, measuring how many employees have left. The formula is Turnover Rate = (Number of separations during the period / Average number of employees) x 100. This can be calculated monthly or annually. It’s often broken down into voluntary vs. involuntary turnover.
3. Average Tenure: This measures how long employees typically stay with the company. Calculate by averaging the length of employment for all current employees. Average tenure should be adjusted for specific jobs, departments, or locations.
4. Retention Rate by Demographics: Breaking down retention rates by department, job level, age, etc., can reveal problem areas.
5. Regrettable Turnover Rate: This focuses specifically on high-performing employees who leave voluntarily.

The first two are the most common. The last three are the most informative.

To compare your organizational grip strength, you’ll need to find the statistics relevant to your industry, region, and the specific jobs in question.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks job openings and turnover. You can look there for broad industry trends. Human resource firms and professional associations will often track specific data.

Once you know your organization’s numbers and industry trends – you can easily compare and evaluate how strong your ‘grip’ is.

When a strong grip is unhealthy

There is a caveat. A few organizations have minimal turnover but are unhealthy.

These companies often have conflict-avoidant cultures that discourage accountability – especially around performance. Employees are usually under-performers. They stay much longer than usual because very little is expected of them. There is low accountability, and it is comfortable to be there.

High performers are often not attracted to these companies. Or they will be among the few to leave because these cultures not only don’t reward initiative, performance, or accountability but may actively attack it. High performers make the others look bad.

When I see an organization with abnormally high retention levels, I will check to ensure a healthy leadership culture. It is entirely reasonable to build it all: A healthy culture where high performance and high retention are typical. The best employees prefer workplaces like this.

Thoughts on evaluating your “grip.”

A couple of things to keep in mind:

• Actively measure your grip. You should measure your employee’s grip.’ It isn’t difficult, and it yields powerful insights.
• Don’t be normal. Industry norms include companies with a ‘weak’ grip on their employees. I never encourage my clients to be ‘normal.’ Be better than that.
• Set goals around tenure.
  • For example, if a particular entry-level position tends to hold people for 12 months, work to extend that to 18 months.
  • Consider typical career trajectory. Most people are motivated to advance themselves. When possible, ensure that people have and understand their path to advancement in your company. They may not stay in the same position, but they stay with you.

Concluding thought

Demographic changes that are impacting the US workforce as well as most industrialized nations. The workforce is shrinking on both ends – boomers are retiring, and people aren’t having as many kids. This isn’t going to change in the foreseeable future. It will remain challenging in most industries to find good employees.

The winning strategy across industries is to learn to attract, build, and retain high-performing employees. This will require much more active, healthy, and thoughtful leadership than may have been needed in the past.

To me, that seems like the upside to all of this.

Take good care,

Christian