Employees for Life?

What inspired me to write this were two different pieces from people I respect in the business, Laurie Ruettiman at Punk Rock HR, http://www.punkrockhr.com/; and Margaret Heffernan at BNET, http://www.bnet.com/.

Laurie's always enlightening and entertaining post talked about what is wrong with the recruitment process, and props to her for stopping at less than a page because there is plenty. Margaret took a completely different approach and discussed the concept of never being able to fire an employee again!

Kind of makes your blood run cold doesn't it! I think most corporate employers look at Employment at Will the same way Charleton Heston looks at the right to bear arms, you will pry it out of my cold dead fingers.

I think sometimes that makes us sloppy and indifferent. Sloppy and indifferent to the tune of $5 trillion dollars in turnover costs annually in the U.S. alone. Add in another $200 billion for "presenteeism" and you are talking about real money, aren't you?

The things I read also say that a majority of employees are unhappy in their current jobs and performing at less than their potential and capability. So my question is-

• We like to think of ourselves as the most advanced country in the world, why are we watching this unfold?

I see a lot of things out there on the net asking "Now that the economy is picking up what should I do about employee retention and my key people?". I also hear from employers at all sizes that in this economy employees don't have as many choices so "I can focus on other more "critical" things." Last, but not least when I discuss poor practices and the costs and efforts associated with poor hiring I get the typical "Shit happens, people come and go. If someone doesn't work out we can always terminate them or lay them off."

What if you couldn't? What if you were "stuck" with the employees you have, what would you do then?

I think one of the things you would do is to have a way better process. You would be much more careful about who you hired and who was involved in the process. You might ask questions about things like "fit", "potential", alignment with "values". I'll bet the people involved with the process would be more senior and better trained. You wouldn't rely on your "gut" or a computer program to make the decisions for you. Because these people will be with you forever, and forever is a very long time isn't it?

Margaret lays out some pretty good advice about how to do somethings differently;

• Choose carefully at the start. We call this Hire Hard- Manage Easy. If this is a relationship not a "date" you should think it through.
• When you see trouble, intervene early. Don't watch someone struggle or fail to address an issue because you didn't want to hurt someones feelings.
• Stop waiting for them to quit. Studies show that actively disengaged employees are no more likely to quit than employees who are neutral or passively disengaged. They "quit", contributing that is. They stick around and poison the well.
• Right person, wrong fit? Is it the employee or did we put them in the wrong job? How many times have we taken a good "technician" and turned them into an awful manager?
• Are they being managed properly? My experience has taught me a lot of "performance" issues stem from mismanagement. You can't manage everybody the same way. Poor skills or application of skills at the front line manager level is one of the biggest contributors to turnover, litigation, unionization, etc. It doesn't matter if you are a "servant leader" if your front line supervisors are tyrants.

So even if we keep our right to employment at will, which by the way I am a fan of, shouldn't we at least consider making changes to how we hire and manage ? Especially if it can potentially save us over $5 trillion dollars a year. Doesn't that seem like good business?

Think about it, $5 trillion here and $5 trillion there and we are starting to talk about real money.....