Here are 10 ways to guarantee that your best people will quit:
10. Treat everyone equally. This may sound good, but your employees are not equal. Some are worth more because they produce more results. The key is not to treat them equally, rather treat them all fairly.
9. Tolerate mediocrity. A-players don’t have to or want to play with a bunch of C-players.
8. Have dumb rules. I did not say have no rules, I said don’t have dumb rules. Great employees want to have guidelines and direction, but they don’t want to have rules that get in the way of doing their jobs or that conflict with the values the company says are important.
7. Don’t recognize outstanding performance and contributions. Remember Psychology 101 — Behavior you want repeated needs to be rewarded immediately.
6. Don’t have any fun at work. Where’s the written rule that says work has to be serious? If you find it, rip it to shreds and stomp on it because the notion that work cannot be fun is actually counterproductive. The workplace should be fun. Find ways to make work and/or the work environment more relaxed and fun and you will have happy employees who look forward to coming to work each day.
5. Don’t keep your people informed. You’ve got to communicate not only the good, but also the bad and the ugly. If you don’t tell them, the rumor mill will.
4. Micromanage, i.e. tell them what you want done and how you want it done. You need to tell them why it needs to be done and why their job is important, even ask for their input on how it could be done better.
3. Don’t develop an employee retention strategy. Employee retention deserves your attention every day. Make a list of the people you don’t want to lose and, next to each name, write down what you are doing or will do to ensure that person stays engaged and on board.
2. Don’t do employee retention interviews. Most employers tend to wait until a great employee is walking out the door and then conduct an exit interview to find out what caused them to look for another job in the first place. By then it’s too late, so conduct retention interviews and determine what needs to be done to keep your better employees engaged.
1. Make your induction program an exercise in tedium. Employees are most impressionable during the first 60 days on the job. Every bit of information gathered during this time will either reinforce their decision to take the job, or lead to them regretting being there. Most Employee Orientation/Training Programs are poorly organized, inefficient, and boring. How can you expect excellence from your new employee if your orientation program is a sloppy amalgamation of tedious paperwork, boring policies and procedures, and hours of regulations and red tape?
To reinforce their decision to work for you, get key management involved on the first day and make sure your orientation delivers and reinforces these three messages repeatedly:
A. You were carefully chosen and we’re glad you’re here.
B. You’re now part of a great organization.
C. This is why your job is so important.
Written by Mel Kleiman, CSP, president of Humetrics. Edited by Retail Rescue.