Elevated HR Solutions: New Years Resolutions May Mean Higher Turnover

Just like clockwork, the end of the first week of 2011 had my phone ringing non-stop.  Employees have decided to resign and my clients (and potential clients) need help to replace and/or have asked me to complete exit interviews of their departing staff.

Unfortunately this was not a surprise to me as unemployment rates have started to drop as recovery from the recession continues and employees start to feel confident enough to look for a change. Those companies that used the phrase, "Stick with us during the hard times and we'll reward you when we get through it," need to either pony up or watch their A-Stars leave. This is the perfect time for it - as New Year's resolutions are most acted upon within the first to two weeks of the new year. 

If your company still can't necessarily afford raises or bonuses (or any of those recession promises made), a company's next greatest defence is communication.  Grab your A-Players and make sure that they know they are that (A-Players). Remember - the whole carrot and the stick trick is running out.  So try to give them something like meaningful praise or maybe an extra day or two off before things get crazy in 2011, or perhaps a gift certificate for dinner and an offer to pay for the sitter for a night - anything that would be customized to the person's life outside of work that says, "We care! We want you here!"

If you can get through January, you've got a chance to keep them hooked again for the year.  Of course, employee engagement and employee enablement initiatives should technically last more than a month - but that's another blog!

Happy New Year All!

Exit Interviews - Exposing hidden secrets upon resignation

The lessons I have learned from the early days of my career are definitely amongst the most valuable.  Perhaps it’s because I was the most impressionable back then (not that I would ever admit it). I was ego-centric and thought I knew everything.  I have definitely eaten some very delicious humble pie in my career.  I always tried to brush it off quickly but as I have grown older (and hopefully wiser) I love to look back on the lessons I have learned. “Did I really do that?”

One lesson learned in particular comes to mind after I attended a networking event and was asked if I conduct exit interviews and if I saw value from them.  My answer was “Yes and yes.”

Exit Interviews are those meetings an organization has when they are off-boarding an employee.  Typically, conducted by an HR representative (or anyone that is not a direct supervisor, as it allows for more open and candid responses), it’s a set of pre-selected questions asking the employee what their experience was like while working for the company.

My first exit-interview looked something like this:

Me: “Why did you decide to leave?”

Employee: “I got a better job.”

Me (somewhat puzzled by tone, but trying to maintain control): “What about the job that makes it better?”

Employee: “Everything.”

Me (definitely flustered, voice cracking slightly): “Do you have any suggestions to make X a better place to work? Was there anything that would have prevented you from leaving?”

Employee (leans in across the table, makes direct eye contact with me and in a very quiet, monotone voice says): “Don’t you think it’s ironic that you’re asking me how I feel now that I’m leaving when you had 5 years to get my opinion previously? Why would I want to provide you any feedback to make this a better workplace AFTER I leave. Go f**k yourself.”  (I’m probably paraphrasing everything BUT the last sentence.)

Me (shaking, but trying to not let her see it, most likely on the verge of tears…I hadn’t really developed any sort of thick skin at this point): “I appreciate that.  If it’s any consolation, I’m new to this. You’re right, we should have asked you prior to you leaving.  That’s my fault.  May I take this as a suggestion for us to improve?”

Employee (honestly surprised at my response…perhaps she was looking for a fight, but both her face and voice softened): “Uhh. Sure. Sorry, I shouldn’t have sworn.  It’s just I put my heart and soul into this organization and…and you just didn’t ever seem to care…”

The interview actually lasted close to an hour and half and a week later I did an anonymous employee survey (big lesson learned).  She gave me a ton of examples (some were valid, some were just the opinion of a disgruntled employee) but I realized how important the information was that she provided.  And at the end of the day, it actually allowed her some closure too – she was harbouring a lot of feelings and by opening up, it allowed her to finally say what she always wanted to. She didn’t end up holding anything back – because she didn’t have anything to lose.

That said, not all exit interviews provide a lot of valuable insight.  But if you ask the same questions, and implement a rating scale of some sort, you can use the exit interviews as one component towards a report card for the organization as a whole on a semi-annual or annual basis. 

After a few exit interviews, from the same department, we realized the manager may need some additional leadership support. At another company, information regarding our compensation came up and we did a salary review, realizing we were not only paying at the 30^th percentile, our benefits were not on par with the market at all. 

While deep, dark secrets don’t always come to the surface – having a standardized approach to off-boarding an employee makes it easier for management to make decisions that affect the staff.  (But at the same time, it’s equally as important to ask the employees how they feel while they are still in fact employees.)

Oh and one other thing – I don’t do exit interviews when the company has made the decision. I just think it’s asking a lot to get an employee’s perspective on things when you’ve just told them they no longer have a job.  But it’s the organization’s call. (Just a recommendation from someone who has been in the situation and realized this wasn’t a good call!)

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