Implementing Effective Employee Retention Strategies

Michelle Risinger, HR Director, TechnipFMC

As an HR Director at TechnipFMC, Michelle Risinger enthusiastically tackles new problems regardless of their complexity and is drawn to new ideas that create effective solutions. She also makes it a point to consider the long term and determine what the company's personnel requirements would be. Moreover, Michelle is known for building an empowered and talented workforce in cross-cultural environments in highly competitive markets.

What are some of the challenges in the HR industry?

The biggest issue that organizations have been facing for a long time is retaining employees, especially after the Great Resignation. There are countless employees who are asking questions about their job roles, flexibility, and work environment. We observe retention problems caused by a variety of variables, including people's changing priorities and wanting to work for a different organization. As a result, we are not only losing employees, but it is also difficult to get available candidates who can step in and fill positions without needing much training.

Another thing we need to focus on is to help people understand career development. The workforce now wants to view things in a better manner, but they just don't feel it's happening. I think that's always been a problem, but I felt that in the past, people could see that more clearly. They demand greater openness and awareness of the ways in which they might advance professionally.

With all these challenges and potential disruptions, how do you see the technology evolve in the HR industry?

I believe there has been a significant change in how people desire to work and what is important to them. I'm not sure if all of the available tools and technology have been able to keep up with that specific requirement. In order to have technology that helps and supports us with that, I continue to believe that we must rely on experts in the human resources sector and on talking to people. But at the end of the day, it's all about ensuring that we know our employees and the managers themselves are interacting with the workforce and maintaining the lines of communication, and building human connections.

Have you recently worked on any projects where you have used some of the processes features to ensure the project's success?

We recently conducted an employee engagement survey to ensure that we truly understood the feedback that was being provided by the employees. I suppose one of the greatest tasks that my team has had due to the way that we are structured is this. We find these surveys unique and helpful to our company and team. But we wanted a deeper understanding of that.

"We observe retention problems caused by a variety of variables, including people's changing priorities and wanting to work for a different organization."

We, therefore, developed a method for conducting more focused focus groups with employees in order to better understand their feedback and implement applicable actions based on it. The focus groups where we spoke with the employees face-to-face were facilitated by the company executives themselves. And on the basis of that, we were able to implement a number of measures, which allowed the staff to directly provide us with feedback. We checked to make sure we understood what they were saying rather than just reading the words on a report. They soon realized that we valued their opinions and were actually doing something to make the workplace better.

Where do you envision yourself as a firm in the next two to three years?

We honestly hope to be recognized as a place where people want to not just come and work but also where they can see themselves growing, developing, and becoming a place they truly want to come to work each day.

What would be your single piece of advice to your peers in the HR industry? 

My sole piece of advice to them is to keep their attention on building relationships with your employee. I believe the fact that knowing people and being an authority on people-related issues is the whole point of our career.