Douglas Brown, Owner- Founder at Manage2Retain

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?

Douglas Brown: Our concept developed from a previous company Engaged2Perform that was involved in employee engagement surveys and had collected a wealth of data on employee wants and needs over a 10 year period.

When we started to see increased turnover rates in the “Great Resignation” over the last few years we felt we could help managers to meet the wants and needs of employees to improve their employee retention.

This led to the creation of Manage2Retain and our services to support managers in strengthening employee relationships through more effective conversations and support actions

Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Manage2Retain?

Douglas Brown: Manage2Retain offers two key tools to -

1. Help clients assess the risk of losing their talent (based on assessment of three critical factors related to employee’s decision to remain with their organization).

2. ROI calculator to determine whether they can achieve an attractive financial return from investing in employee retention strategies.

This is followed by our training and coaching services to help managers develop the soft, people skills that build strong, trusting relationships and connect with employees. These trainings are supported by interactive processes that enable managers to implement the trainings through ongoing conversations on a regular basis that understand and support employee needs.

Great Companies: What makes Manage2Retain different from hundreds of other similar service providers?

Douglas Brown: We work at the heart of the retention issue: the manager-employee relationship. The manager plays a crucial role in retention as they are in the strongest position to influence and affect the three critical drivers of employee retention, employee engagement, the employee’s work experience and the employee career development plan. This work is supported by direct on the job learning by manager-employee conversations that teach managers how to discuss and support what employee’s seek in a fulfilling career.

Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

Douglas Brown: One of our challenges has been helping organizations realize how important the manager is in the employee retention process. All employees have their own unique and personal career needs. These are different for everyone and as such cannot always be met through corporate programs designed for the entire company workforce.

These intrinsic drivers can only be truly met through interactive dialogue that enables managers and the organization to truly understand what appeals to that employee. Once understood, managers and organizations can work to create a work experience that is fulfilling and rewarding for employees.

Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Manage2Retain?

Douglas Brown: Our mission is to support small to medium sized enterprises in improving employee absenteeism and turnover rates. As we grow we may continue to build the manager employee relationship so that it helps the manager to improve the employee performance, cultivate new ideas and innovations, and more.

The key is to have a strong relationship and the foundational principles in place that delivers a loyal and committed workforce. When this is established we can build on this by moving forward and adding additional goals

Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Douglas Brown:

1. A new business or entrepreneur starting out- Do your research to understand the business challenges you are addressing and get clear on your value proposition on how you would improve and solve these challenges. I would also suggest be persistent. It will take time and effort.

2. Someone starting out to improve their employee retention- Get you managers involved- Help them understand the importance of their role in the employee retention process and then give them the support and tools they need to be successful. Once in place you can then hold managers accountable for improving employee retention and/or retaining their talented employees.