When Good Employees Leave
Losing good employees is not only an expense in terms of time, effort and the associated cost of finding a suitable replacement but also in the untold cost of losing valuable knowledge and experience that is unique to the organization; Prevention is the best cure against the problem of losing good employees.
From time to time employees will leave an organization but it is important for an employer to know that people are leaving for the right reasons and not for reasons that could have been addressed and resolved.
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.
A lack of career development and/or poor management are two common reasons for employee dissatisfaction that can often result in personnel deciding to change jobs. 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 system, employees evaluate their managers).
While employed employees can be reluctant to criticize their managers for fear of the consequences, 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.
Lack of 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. A successful organization will maintain the balance of having high flyers and more modest and humble employees.
Where losses due to a lack of career development are occasional they may also be inevitable, but where they are frequent, then changes to the organizational structure might need to be considered to allow for greater career development of the employees.
Sub-standard Management
Many managers achieved their position through promotion, but it does not always follow that a good worker will automatically make a good manager and often people are assigned management position without any formal management training.
Poor managers can be quick to discredit the views of disgruntled staff, ‘I was thinking of getting rid of them anyway’ and ‘they were a waste of space’ are typical responses to being asked if there is a problem causing people to leave an 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 uncommon for people to leave an employer and at a later date put in a claim for constructive dismissal. With legal representation now adopting the ‘No win no fee’ model even good employers are finding this to be a real problem. Exit surveys will at best, provide a valuable record of the employee’s reasons for leaving, and at worse, provide early warning that a possible claim 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 the exit survey
Exit surveys can be conducted as part of the termination procedures or they can, with the employee’s agreement, be delayed for a few months.
If the timing of the exit survey is delayed for a month or two it could allow for a period of reflection where the ex-employee may be less prone to emotion and more objective and if they have started a new job they 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
Organizations will generally benefit in a number of different ways by including exit surveys as part of their employee termination procedures. 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.