Good Employees Leave – But Do You Know Why?
When good employees leave it is not only a loss in terms of time, effort and all the cost associated with finding a suitable replacement but it is also the loss of losing unique knowledge and experience specifically associated to the organization; Prevention is the best cure against the problem of losing good employees.
Employees leave their employers for many valid and unavoidable reasons but it is important that an employer knows the reasons their employees leave in case they are found to be reasons that if addressed and resolved could have been avoided.
Concerns of employees can be identified early by the regular use of well designed job satisfaction surveys, allowing for problems to be resolved and helping to minimize needless loss of staff. However some problems, for example those that are the result of a clash of personalities, do not always come to light until it is too late.
When personnel decide to change jobs it is very often due to a lack of career development and/or poor management. Both of these problems can be difficult to identify even for organizations that adopt regular 360-degree appraisals (i.e. where as part of the overall appraisal employees are requested to evaluate their line managers).
While still employed employees can be very reluctant to criticize their managers for fear of reprisal; they can however be more candid when completing an employee exit survey.
Once an employee has decided to resign it is very unlikely that an Exit survey will prevent them from leaving, however the survey may help identify areas that if not addressed could result in more preventable resignations.
Limited Career Development
Not all employers can offer, and nor do all employees desire, a clear and long term career path. There are just as many people that find comfort and security in doing one job well as there are people that need to feel that they are continual being challenged, learning new skills and moving onwards and upwards with respect to the corporate ladder. For organizations to succeed and excel they need the high flyers as well as the steady Eddies of the world.
Having good records could prove to be very valuable long term and they also provide management with information that could help them improve the moral of an organization as well as productivity and the bottom line.
Sub-standard Management
Many a manager has achieved their managerial position through hard work and a deserved promotion, but a good worker does not always make a good manager and many are awarded a management position without any management training.
Managers who perform poorly can be quick to discredit the views of disgruntled staff, ‘I am glad they went it saved me getting rid of them’ and ‘they were useless anyway’ may prove to be common responses to those managers being asked if there are any problems that might be causing people to leave the organization.
It is understandable that senior management would want to support their line managers by giving them the benefit of any doubt and a poor employee may not be averse to unfairly criticising their line manager. If through an Exit survey a man-management problem were to be identified early it presents a realistic chance that the problem could be properly addressed and resolved with appropriate formal training and guidance.
Records
It is not that unusual for a person to leave an employer and put in a claim for constructive dismissal at a later date. With ‘No win no fee’ legal representation this has become a real problem for even good employers. At best Exit surveys will provide an organization with a valuable record of the employee’s reasons for leaving, and at worse, provide advanced warning that a possible claim for unfair dismissal might be expected.
A tribunal may not readily accept the word of an employer that when the employee left they did so without indicating any grievance.
Timing
Exit surveys can be conducted as part of the termination procedures or they can be delayed for a few months if the employee is in agreement.
There can be an advantage in delaying an exit survey for a few months in that a former employee may be less emotional and more honest with their views and may be in a position to compare their previous role with their new role.
Conducting an exit survey as part of the termination procedure has the advantage that although the leaving employee may be emotional their views may be more reflective of their true state of mind and therefore closer to the real reasons they have decided to leave. If delayed any comparison between the ex-employee’s old and new roles may be the result of them putting on a brave face, and if the reasons that are given require action, the delay may have prevented the problem from being resolved.
Summary
Organization that include exit surveys as part of their employee termination procedures will generally benefit in a number of ways. Having good records could prove to be very valuable later and they will also provide management with information that can help them improve an organization’s moral as well as the bottom line.
See the following survey for sample exit interview questions.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 5:07 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.