CM: What can you tell us about your attrition rates?

Howard: We have seen workforce attrition rates trend upward over the past several years. And I think that’s universal across the industry and that’s not unique to what we do as a firm versus maybe what Accenture does or versus other professional services organizations. And so there is a very directed focus, a targeted focus right now on retaining people and how do you reduce attrition and what does attrition cost. . . . And we have stepped back to ask ourselves the question of whether or not the heart of this issue of increasing retention is that we are faced with a generational milestone, if you will. And that’s kind of at the heart of the issue for increasing retention.

CM: Are you speaking of how the new class of recruits is in some way different from past classes?

Howard: What I mean by that is that there are different generations in the world’s population. And those generations are raised differently and they have different value systems. They have different work ethics and they view their opportunities within the world differently.

So my grandfather worked for the same organization for 50 years. And I have been within the professional services environment and in kind of some very similar, connected organizations for 20 years. I’ve moved around a bit, but not like we see with the generation 20 years later.

CM: You mentioned that this new generation of recruits entering consulting expects sizable opportunities . . .

Howard: They view that they have greater opportunities and perhaps greater social responsibilities in this world than we did coming out of college. And, therefore, you know, they should be thinking about giving back to communities. They may think about trying a bunch of different types of work opportunities. They may think about going back to school in ways that we never thought about it. So we are facing a different generation that views how they work, where they work, how long they work, and those opportunities that this world affords them differently. And that’s okay. But then this behooves all professional service companies to rethink their strategies.

If truth be told, we need to be really thinking about our business models and our recruiting strategies as to whether you change things operationally to work with that generational view. You change the expectations within the organization; you may even change how you recruit.

CM: When we talk about new recruits, we think of people coming out of school in their twenties, but there are other areas and other generations that are now being recruited by different firms . . .

Howard: Yes, well, another area to think about is the retiree population. And when I say “retiree,” I’m talking about people who have finished a certain kind of career, if you will, but are maybe still relatively young and mobile and able to work. They just don’t want to do it full-time.

And I can put my mother in this category. She retired early, in her sixties, and she’s well off enough not to work, but she’d be bored out of her mind if she didn’t. So she does something entirely different. She adds value to the organization, but she also does it on her schedule, which the organization accepts. There are times when she says to them, “I’m going away for three weeks to take a trip to Norway,” and they say, “Fine,” because she’s only paid for the hours she works.

CM: Does Navigant view the retired population as a recruiting opportunity?

Howard: To me, this is an area that we need to be studying more fully, looking toward those people who had business careers in accounting and finance and economics who could add significant industry and a kind of tenured experience. …However, currently, we need to focus on the retention of our people and we have a lot of things that we’re doing at Navigant to do that, but you also have to ask yourselves whether you need to shift some of your overall operating strategies to acknowledge a change in and maybe an acceptance of that kind of attrition rate. And if you can’t accept it, then you’re going to have to move away from that category of people that drives your attrition rate.

CM: So these more flexible job arrangements, anyway, would be one way of helping ease your costs . . .

Howard: Yes, absolutely. And we have, I think, a fairly significant percentage of our organization that has flexible work arrangements, if you will, to be accommodated, set up either as they were coming in and being recruited into the firm, or in an effort to retain people, because, you know, you want them around for the long haul.

CM: We’ve heard that Navigant has held “town meeting”–type gatherings at different offices. Is this to enhance communication among the ranks?

Howard: We have made a much more concerted effort to create a more continuous feedback loop within Navigant between employees and practice leaders and senior leadership and then back through again. And even including our investment community, where we’ve tried to share with our employee base the feedback we get from them and vice versa.

But we did kick off our first-ever employee survey in the organization. We had significantly high participation, and we’ve taken that survey information and have acted on it in several ways.

The first was to make a commitment that we would study and understand, by level, by practice, by geography, you name it, what people were trying to say to us and really focus in on the issues. That we would be responsive, because what came out of it is definitely that employees want more focus on them and, in order to retain them, it’s about their development. It’s about their work environment. It’s not as much about compensation as everybody thinks, but it’s really about the work environment and whether that is flexible. It’s about work arrangements and internal mobility, where they may transfer to other offices, to work with other practitioners.

CM: Do you permit people to live where they choose?

 Howard: Well, the answer to that is that we’ve had, I think, a relatively stable philosophy over time. And it differs from some firms’. We tend to have a view that, one, we don’t necessarily want a bunch of virtual employees who. We do have real estate, we do have bricks and mortar at Navigant, because we believe that breeds loyalty and really supports the teaming effort that we have for delivering our client services.

So while operating virtually an opportunity for people if that’s what they need at this given point in time in their life, fine, but it’s not our philosophy. And our philosophy is that we’re going to have real estate and we tend to focus on about eight major metropolitan areas. It’s kind of a hub and a spoke, if you will, and those hubs are the major financial centers of our consulting space. …

And then, as strategically driven, we have some smaller regional offices. Because it’s appropriate from a client perspective or, as you would say, there’s a certain service.

CM: Have you been more aggressive, or let’s say have you spent more money relocating people, just given, you know, how this saves people from leaving?

Howard: Yes. And when you say “more aggressive,” you can use that phrase. I think that everyone will tell you that, as I went around to speak to every office during our town hall forum, I made a pitch to two geographies that I want more people to move to. And I said, “You know, these are opportunities.” And one of them is our London office. It’s an opportunity. We have a lot of work opportunity there. It would be a great learning experience, and we’re not asking for a permanent commitment. I’m just asking people to commit for two or three years.

So, yes, that’s part of what I would call our resource-management tools that we utilize, whether it be internal mobility and moving people around to develop their skills or asking people to transfer and relocate to satisfy needs that we have.