While retention bonuses can be one of the most effective means of getting an employee to turn down an outside job offer, offering a flexible work schedule – through telework, flextime or a compressed workweek can be effective as well, so argues a report from the Partnership for Public Service called "Keeping Talent."
Another effective retention technique includes improving the performance management process with better performance appraisals, recognizing accomplishments on the part of employees and providing meaningful feedback.
Apart from performance-based pay increases and awards, or feedback for supervisors and managers, better performance management could be as simple as clarifying for employees how their roles relate to the agency mission.
Additional strategies for holding onto talent and valued experience include using phased-retirement and re-employed annuitant programs, as well as supplementing pay through student loan repayment and tuition reimbursement programs that entail a service agreement, and providing employee and family benefits such as on-site day care, the report said.
All these things add up in helping agencies compete for talent – talent they already possess – when competing with private industry and its deeper pockets.
