Next to recruiting, the retention of profitable agents is something that exasperates every real estate leader.

It’s difficult and expensive to recruit, train, mentor, and coach a new agent. Seeing your investment walk out the door is heartbreaking—and bottom-line-breaking.

For years, human resource consulting firms have studied the reasons for employee attrition.  Some of these reasons are constants (they show up in every study), but new variables are now emerging due to the tight labor market and innovative data collection techniques.

Do you know what causes your agents to leave? Find out what the researchers at CEB Global have recently discovered.

The Attrition Constants

CEB Global, a publicly-traded consulting company based in Washington DC, published their findings on employee attrition in the September issue of the Harvard Business Review.

Compared to previous studies, the most common reasons people leave jobs have not changed. Here is the prioritized list of why individuals walk out the door:

1. They don’t like their bosses (especially their first-level managers).
2. They don’t see opportunities for promotion and growth.
3. They are proactively offered a better gig (usually involving higher pay/better split).

If you’re not focusing most of your retention effort on these issues, you’ll miss the mark.

The New Attrition Variables

Two significant new attrition variables were recently discovered by the CEB researchers, and they’re especially relevant to the real estate industry. People tend to leave companies when:

1. They feel like they’re not doing as well as others in their peer group outside the company.
2. They feel like they’re not as far along as they should be at a certain point in life.

These new discoveries were made by analyzing electronic communications behaviors and online social networking activities. The way the data was collected and scrutinized is very interesting (worth reading more of the research). Corporate big brother is alive and well.

Use Your Calendar to Improve Retention

The key to understanding the new attrition variables are typically related to events happening in an agent’s life. Here are some events researchers encouraged managers to track:

Work Anniversaries. These are natural times for reflection. “I’ve been here three years. How much have I progressed?” Job hunting activity increase 6% – 9% after a work anniversary.

Birthdays. “Another year’s gone by. Am I as far along as I’d hoped to be?” Pay special attention to the midlife milestone birthdays (turning 40 or 50). Job hunting activity jumps 12% just before a person’s birthday.

Large Social Gatherings. Real estate agents are particularly vulnerable at these events. These can be professional events (e.g., a Tom Ferry seminar) or a personal event (e.g., a class reunion).  Job hunting activity jumps 16% after a person attends a class reunion.

Once you have these events on your radar, use them as catalysts to have proactive conversations with those you’re trying to retain. Turn the new attrition variables (above) into questions.

For example, you might say, “I noticed your birthday is coming up. Some people use a birthday to reflect on their progress in life. Do you feel like you’re doing as well as you’d hoped at this point in your life?”

The objective is to have these discussions with your agents BEFORE they start having them with your competitors.

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