NOVEMBER
2000
“Jack
just resigned.” Now What?
HERE’S
A SOBERING THOUGHT: Many, if not most, of your organization’s
new employees do not expect to be on board in another five
years. Part of today’s more transient workforce, they
tend to view themselves as free agents in search of ever-greater
challenges, compensation and opportunities for personal growth.
Moreover, since few expect their employers anymore to give
them a job for life, most don’t seek one.
As a
result, managers increasingly manage employees who someday
will come in and quit.
Most
of them will be the “keepers” whom you had hoped
not to lose – as opposed to ones you had contemplated
firing for the past six months. To make matters worse, they
inevitably will resign at the wrong time, in the midst of
an important project and/or with no evident replacement at
hand.
In a
lot of companies, unexpected resignations are a time for great
weeping and gnashing of teeth: “The so-and-so deserted
us. Now what are we supposed to do?” Surely there has
to be a better way.
What’s
Happened to Employees Lately
In a
recent Louis Harris & Associates study conducted for Spherion
Corporation, researchers identified two types of employees.
“Traditional workers” value job security, stability
and being told what to do; in their view, pay should be tied
to seniority on the job. By contrast, “emergent workers”
value career security (which they themselves create), thrive
on chaos and want to make the rules; in their view, pay should
be tied to job performance. As might or might not be expected,
the Harris study found that emergent workers now outnumber
traditional ones.
On the
other side, however, there are still more employers with traditional
views than emergent views. That is one of the reasons why
so many workers in so many occupations have been attracted
to dot-com companies, which offer “stretch” assignments
in fast-paced, ever-changing work environments – along
with great sums of money and/or stock, at least until the
well runs dry. It’s generally “up or out”
– a philosophy practiced both by trigger-happy employers
and by their job-hopping employees.
Not surprisingly,
a number of dot-coms have failed over the past year for lack
of profits, while the successful ones have grown larger and
more bureaucratic. (One Silicon Valley company prided itself
on letting employees bring their dogs to work, until scores
of barking Fido’s recently brought that practice to
a halt.)
Nonetheless,
having tasted personal freedom (or having seen their friends
do so), employees everywhere are bringing new values and expectations
to the job: Will I acquire new skills and competencies that
will benefit my career (wherever it takes me)? Will I be challenged
by stimulating problems and opportunities? Will I be adequately
rewarded for my contributions? Will I be happy?
Taking
Stock of Employee Morale
OK, some
won’t be fulfilled and sooner or later will leave. Either
their current turf won’t be green enough, or it will
look greener somewhere else.
Frankly,
their departures should not be the surprise they typically
are. By conducting frequent performance reviews of both a
formal and informal nature, a growing number of employers
are discovering that it is possible to get inside the typical
employee’s mind and discover what his or her personal
goals really are. In some cases, they will mesh with the organization’s
plans for the employee. In other cases, they will not –
either because the employee’s goals are unrealistic,
or because the company chooses not to meet them. (“You
may feel you deserve a corner office and company car, but
we don’t.”)
Once
goals are on the table, they can be addressed in various ways.
The company, for instance, might inform the “keeper”
that it plans a series of job changes designed to prepare
the individual for general management. (Hint: Don’t
promise what you can be sued for not delivering.) In another
set of circumstances, the company might propose a course or
seminar that would make the employee better qualified to achieve
his or her goals. In still another, both sides might agree
that the employee’s needs would be best met elsewhere.
Honest
exchanges between employer and employee thus accomplish two
things. First, they reduce the risk of employees leaving for
the wrong reasons. Second, they reduce the element of surprise.
When surprise is lessened, change can be anticipated and managed.
Steps
You Can Take to Manage Change
Sanford
Rose Associates recommends a five-pronged program to lessen
the impact of employee departures – and, in fact, come
out ahead:
1. Listen
to what your current employees tell you. If there are common
threads of employee anxiety or unmet expectations, it may
be within your means to alleviate or eliminate them. In one
company, employees felt that lock-step cost-of-living raises
provided little incentive to go the extra mile. Once that
concern was identified, the company converted to a pay-for-performance
compensation plan that not only rewarded top performers but
also caused dead weight to seek jobs elsewhere.
2. Start
succession planning now. Despite your best efforts to provide
good employees a perfect place to work, the “job of
a lifetime” on occasion will be somewhere else. So don’t
wait for Tom or Linda to leave to begin thinking about succession
planning. Who else in the organization is prepared to take
the job – or would be prepared with some additional
training or cross-functional experience? In smaller, flatter
organizations, there may not be sufficient bench strength
– in which case it is none too early to begin discussions
about succession with a trusted search consultant who understands
your company and its needs.
3. De-brief
those who do leave. Far too many companies, as if personally
insulted when an employee resigns, call the security guards
and usher the individual out the back door. Why not thank
the person for his or her contributions and learn what you
might do to prevent others from leaving – or how the
company might improve or restructure the job for the next
incumbent? There is valuable intelligence to be garnered from
almost any departing employee, regardless of whether you plan
to extend a counter-offer.
4. Take
advantage of any management-level departure as an opportunity
to re-think the job. Most executive positions reflect, to
some extent, the strengths and weaknesses of the incumbent.
Tom, for example, who just resigned as Vice President of Marketing,
was a strong “idea person” noted for his ability
to bring new product concepts to market and energize the company’s
advertising agency to create great campaigns. Perhaps, at
this stage of the company’s development, a more analytical
executive is needed to sort out the company’s opportunities
for e-commerce versus traditional marketing and distribution
channels. Tom’s deputy, who has been trained by Tom,
may not be the individual with the requisite experience, or
fresh way of thinking, to take a hard-headed look at the New
Economy.
5. Don’t
keep other employees in the dark. If Linda left today to take
an important job at another company, say so. If nothing else,
it will increase your organization’s currency as a valuable
place to work. If you know who Linda’s replacement will
be, say so. If you plan to spend time re-thinking the position
or conducting a nationwide search for her replacement, say
so as well. It is axiomatic that when employees are left to
speculate, they add 2 + 2 and get 3.
While
most companies will not see an exponential increase in employee
departures over the next few years, the combination of heightened
employee expectations, a strong economy and a tight labor
market almost certainly will cause the number to rise. Ask
your SRA search consultant for an assessment of employment
trends in your industry. Forewarned is forearmed.
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