To Retain Employees, Give Non-Traditional Gifts, Experts Urge

ByJohn S. McClenahen Probably no employee will turn down a monetary bonus at the holidays. But there are other options -- such as a chance to lead a high-priority project -- that cost little, if any, money and can help companies retain their most-valued employees, say employee-development experts Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans. Among the items in their suggested "gift" catalog: the honor of representing the company at a conference, an introduction to someone in the company the employee wants to meet, a brainstorming session about the employee's next career move. Kaye is president of Career Systems International, Scranton, Pa., and Jordan-Evans is president of the Jordan Evans Group, Woodland Hills, Calif. Their full catalog appears in the December 2000 issue of Training & Development, a publication of the American Society for Training & Development.