Is your company going through a high employee turnover period?

Is your company going through a high employee turnover period?  Of the employees that have left recently, what have they told you of the reasons for quitting/leaving?  Often times they leave and don't tell you the true reasons, particularly because of fear.  They don't want to burn any bridges.  Do you guys do a separation survey on the individuals that quit?

I've lived through such an ordeal. Money is part of the issue, but not all of the issue. In my humble opinion, the main issue and cause is poor leadership - that's because even though we concentrate on "getting it right," we still need to concentrate on "doing the right things(Covey)."

The following list is from Leigh Branham(2005). The 10 most frequently mentioned issues that employees say companies do poorly are:

• Poor management—uncaring and unprofessional managers; overworking staff; no respect, not listening, putting people in wrong jobs; speed over quality; poor manager selection processes.
• Lack of career growth and advancement opportunities—no perceivable career paths; not posting job openings or filling from within; favoritism or unfair promotions.
• Poor communications—problems communicating top-down and between departments; after mergers; between facilities.
• Pay—paid under-market or less than contributions warrant; pay inequities; slow raises; favoritism for bonuses/raises; ineffective appraisals.
• Lack of recognition—that says it all.
• Poor senior leadership—not listening, asking, or investing in employees; unresponsiveness and isolation; mixed messages.
• Lack of training—nonexistent or superficial training; nothing for new hires, managers, or to move up.
• Excessive workload—doing more with less; sacrificing quality and customer service for numbers.
• Lack of tools and resources—insufficient, malfunctioning, outdated, equipment/supplies; overwork without relief.
• Lack of teamwork—poor coworker cooperation/commitment; lack of interdepartmental coordination.

In addition to the above survey, Branhan also found that 89% of managers believe that high turnover is due to money, yet according to the same survey delivered to the employees, 88% left for reasons other than money.

Lopsided isn't it?

If you fix the stuff in the list above, you are on your way to minimizing employee turnover, which will save your organization a “dumptruck” load of money. 

If you need help with this, I can support you.  Shoot me an email at jclavel669@gmail.com.

References:

Leigh Branhan(2005) , The 7 hidden reasons employees leave: how to recognize the subtle signs and act before it's too late.

Losing Trust?

Organizational trust is paramount in any organization.  By trust, I mean the confidence in your ability to relate and communicate with the people that you work with.  If a company CEO is a jackass who creates fear and inspires production by threats and intimidation, eventually it’ll come back to haunt him/her.  This tactic dissolves the team and completely unravels the fabric of a good company.  Fear and intimidation lead to co-dependency – meaning that, people eventually lose their ability to operate autonomously.  This means that they will always make decisions based on what will cause them the least amount of pain, rather than what is best for the company or organization.  I was a part of an organization like this.  I can’t say that it resulted from CEO behavior, but I can say that the Senior Leader in the picture behaved in this way.  At meetings, he crushed dissent and belittled people for many reasons – most of which were unwarranted.  People witnessed this daily and eventually, stopped speaking out at meetings.  A few months later, people began to resign.  After he moved on, the organization had a difficult time functioning because people were accustomed to the autocratic regime that he created.

Just some thoughts.  If any of our readers have experienced the same sorts of things, please chime in.  If you can't resolve it and would like to know how to work through it, please shoot me an email at jclavel669@gmail.com.

Good luck and best regards.

Jarrod Clavelle