Released on: January 12, 2008, 4:29 pm

Press Release Author: Kevin Kelly

Industry: Small Business

Press Release Summary: Kevin Kelly (www.kevinkellyunlimited.com) is an
internationally acclaimed speaker on leadership, entrepreneurship, motivation,
communication and personal excellence. Author of the best-selling \'How? When You
Don\'t Know How\' and other books and CDs, he is known in Ireland as the \'coach behind
the Celtic Tiger\' for his work with existing and potential entrepreneurs. For over
17 years, Kevin Kelly has been actively involved in holding seminars and workshops
throughout Europe, UK and the US.

Press Release Body: \"Staff Retention continues to be a key challenge facing
leaders/entrepreneurs worldwide,\" according to Leadership Expert Kevin Kelly as he
reflected on recent research launched by the Small Firms Association in Ireland.

In all, 340,000 Irish workers moved jobs in 2007, representing a voluntary turnover
rate of 17%

\"Having an effective policy in place to retain employees is now a strategic
imperative considering the mobility of the marketplace, in addition to the high
costs of recruitment. Indeed this approach needs to be more far reaching than just
raising employees salaries. Raising salaries may buy you time, but not productivity
or commitment,\" he added.

The relative mobility of the current generation (popularly known as Generation Y)
compared to their predecessors is a well-accepted phenomenon worldwide. So how do we
retain and motivate our staff in the current business environment?

Exit polls undertaken by the SFA give an insight into the profile of the new employee:
- 102,000 were unhappy with people.
- 85,000 felt contribution was not recognised.
- 68,000 because of lack of advancement.
- 47,600 because of salary.
- 17,000 were bored with their job.
- 20,400 for other reasons.

According to Kelly, International Speaker and Best Selling Author, leaders must work
on the following challenges:
\"Developing their people: As technologies converge, employees are fast becoming a
company's only chance of building competitive advantage. Leaders need to pay more
than lip service to developing their staff. Training and development should be
enshrined in the company culture, not just an optional extra offered sporadically.

Part of this development should include feedback where the employee's performance is
constructively reviewed on a regular basis. Progress should be recognised and a
structure should be put in place to help employees overcome any challenges assisting
them to move to the next level, e.g. working with mentors, training, etc

Creating a community within the workplace: Worldwide research undertaken by Gallup
and many other institutions has shown that friendships within the workspace equates
to improvements in productivity.

Empowering employees to make a difference: At minimum employee's ideas should be
harvested and appreciated, opportunities should exist for them to tap into their
creative juices and indeed time should be allotted to allow them to pursue voluntary
activities.

Creating a compelling vision that reflects their employee's dreams, hopes and
interests.

Developing themselves: Start with yourself! The more a person journeys towards self
knowledge, the more they become authentic and real..the more they will effect
positive change in the workplace.

Who you are screams at me without you ever opening your mouth. For a positive
inspirational scream you got to work on yourself. Obvious but true! Though all of
the above may appear quite obvious and certainly common sense, very few
organizations are integrating these truisms.

About Kevin Kelly:
Kevin Kelly (www.kevinkellyunlimited.com) is an internationally acclaimed speaker on
leadership, entrepreneurship, motivation, communication and personal excellence.
Author of the best-selling \'How? When You Don\'t Know How\' and other books and CDs,
he is known in Ireland as the \'coach behind the Celtic Tiger\' for his work with
existing and potential entrepreneurs. For over 17 years, Kevin Kelly has been
actively involved in holding seminars and workshops throughout Europe, UK and the
US.

Mr. Kelly has appeared many times on National TV and radio shows in Europe and
America and is also the creator of the unique program, \'Looking ahead and Living
now\' which is successfully running in schools all around Ireland.

For more information, please contact:
Kevin Kelly Unlimited
Kevin Kelly
kevin@kevinkellyunlimited.com
www.KevinKellyUnlimited.com
www.KevinKellyUnlimited.com/blog
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Web Site: http://www.kevinkellyunlimited.com

Contact Details: Kevin Kelly
kevin@kevinkellyunlimited.com
www.KevinKellyUnlimited.com
www.KevinKellyUnlimited.com/blog
Tel: +919876008992