A third employee in as many months has just exited your office. He did not come bearing good news. He is leaving. He is not the best, but after investing resources in him to get him to that part of the curve where he is actually earning his keep, financially it is disastrous.
What can a company do in this case? Is this just a one-off thing or is the steady attrition a cause for concern? At this point, it may be too late for this particular employee but due diligence still needs to be taken to find out exactly what went wrong. It could be that there are better offers out there – of course. However, if there have been water-cooler gossip about some unease, or the grapevine has been particularly noisy then your employees may be disenchanted with your company.
To slow the stream of resignations you have to engage your employees and find out exactly what is pushing/pulling them away. Do not wait until the exit interview. By this time the employee is already out and may happily give sugar-coated responses and not the truth.
Here are some tips to reengage your employees before both feet are out the door.
Engage Them on the First Day
In this fast-paced economy, roles are sometimes so hard to fill we want to do it quickly and cheaply. So quickly, that once a candidate fits the criteria and can pass a few ‘technical’ tests, we jump to welcome them aboard. No one is taking the time to find out what the career aspirations of this person may be and if they want to be a part of your company to just meet ‘hot’ girls/guys.
Maybe it is time to pull out the oft used “where do you see yourself in three years?” question to have an idea what their aspirations are.
Get to Know them Now
Employees will often tell about their bad experiences after they have decided to leave. Many will at this point be offered raises, promotions and other goodies just to keep them with the company. Where were these offers all along? If the company knew that the employee wanted to move up the career ladder, why didn’t it start guiding him/her earlier?
It is sometimes better late than never, don’t be prepared to offer perks just for your guy/girl to stay – start enabling them to earn them right now.
Hearsay is sometimes Valid
There is a saying in Jamaica which can be roughly translated “If it is not so, then it’s almost so”. This means that a rumour may not be entirely true, but there could be some truth to it. What does this mean for your company? Well, when the noise
on the ground starts and there is an inkling of an idea that there is discord within the team – start an investigation.
Do not wait until the house is on fire to start pouring water. People seldom sit in their cubicles fuming for months without telling a colleague their grouses. This means eventually more people will know about it and if you listen, so will you.
Employ retention or satisfaction may not be the goal of your company. I cannot make the argument for your business as to why it should be.
What I can say is that ‘ happy cows produce better milk’. Whether milk is literally your product or not, there is a duty to keep your product at the highest quality.
The time to ask what went wrong is not after your employee has handed in his letter/tweet/Facebook post. If and when your employee decides to leave, you should already know what could not or was not done to keep him/her engaged.
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