3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession
A recent guest post on SmartBlog on Workforce by Lance Haun, vice president of outreach for MeritBuilder, could also easily apply to associations, professional societies and nonprofits. What are you doing now to keep key players around when things get better? Huan’s thoughts:
“When I first entered corporate HR, we were in a boom period. Do you remember that? I barely can. I remember hearing about the crisis of the coming labor shortage and how we would be on our knees begging and pleading for people nearing retirement to stay, convincing Gen Xers to stay with meaningless promotions and scooping up as many Gen Yers as we possibly could.
When I first entered corporate HR, we were in a boom period. Do you remember that? I barely can. I remember hearing about the crisis of the coming labor shortage and how we would be on our knees begging and pleading for people nearing retirement to stay, convincing Gen Xers to stay with meaningless promotions and scooping up as many Gen Yers as we possibly could.
Those were the good old days. That is, if you were a person looking for work.
With unemployment pushing 10%, perhaps employers are taking a breather. They can worry less about people leaving and when they do, they aren’t sweating that, either. Now, instead of candidates asking for stock options, they are asking if the job is full time and offers health insurance. There is talent out there, and it is cheap.
After the recession ends though, some of your best talent may be walking out the door. They probably won’t tell you why either … Here are a couple of hints:
- You didn’t operate with integrity. That can be anything from giving your executives big bonuses while you cut pay for everyone else to offering a new employee 60% of your normal base because people are desperate. If a company operates honestly and suffers, people can hold their head up. Employees can smell busted integrity from a mile away though. When they can get away, they can.
- You lack real leadership. Scare tactics? Hiding? Spinmeister? Denial? If these words can be used to describe how your executive team operated during the recession, expect some big-time turnover. Employees look to management to inspire confidence and promote accountability but also to be upfront and honest. Management’s true colors can show during a recession, and employees will remember them.
- You didn’t do the easy things. When you were piling on the work, zeroing out bonus checks and raises, and expecting more productivity with less, did you say thank you more often? Did you recognize their accomplishments as more impressive with the limited resources? When they worked 20 hours over the weekend, did you allow them to take an afternoon off to watch a kid’s soccer game?
If you’re not hitting a home run in all three of these areas (or at least a solid double), how are you fixing it or what are you going to do to stem the tide of turnover when it hits?”
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Posted by SmartBriefScoop on October 6th, 2009 at 9:24 am
3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession: http://ow.ly/sZ0V
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Posted by michaelculver on October 6th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession: http://ow.ly/sZ0V
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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Posted by MemberClicks on October 6th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Three reasons employees will leave your association after the recession: http://ow.ly/sZA5
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Posted by associationjam.org on October 8th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession…
A recent guest post on SmartBlog on Workforce by Lance Haun, vice president of outreach for MeritBuilder, could also easily apply to associations, professional societies and nonprofits. What are you doing now to keep key players around when things get …
Posted by Jeffhurt on October 15th, 2009 at 7:46 am
3 Reasons Employees Will Leave Your Association After The Recession [CEOs & Ex Dirs read this!] http://ow.ly/uzkK
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Posted by kimgeralds on October 15th, 2009 at 8:24 am
imp stuff RT @JeffHurt 3 Reasons Employees Will Leave Your Association After The Recession [CEOs & Ex Dirs read this!] http://ow.ly/uzkK
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Posted by Joe Rominiecki on October 20th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Some evidence to back up why this is so important: http://hbdm.harvardbusiness.org/email/archive/dailystat.php?date=102009
“Employee engagement levels for all workers at the surveyed companies have dropped 9% since last year — but the number was nearly 25% for top performers.”
Not only will employees be looking to leave, but your best employees are the ones most likely to leave.
Posted by SmartBriefScoop on October 21st, 2009 at 11:27 am
Great comments on recent SmartBlog Insights post on “3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession” http://ow.ly/vvYv
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Posted by Ann F. on November 3rd, 2009 at 5:39 am
Absolutely true! Employees know that character is what shows under pressure.
An employer who shows integrity, caring, honesty, and loyalty when times are rough will earn loyalty, and employers who show just the opposite will earn contempt.
As Joe says above, it’s your best employees, the ones with the most gumption and marketable skills, who will leave first. Not only are they the employees that the competition wants to get, but they’re the ones who hold themselves and their employers to higher standards.
When those employees leave, an organization may end up left only with the mediocre, whom nobody else wants; those who are over-compensated and know that they’re getting paid more than the market would pay them elsewhere; and those who played politics to keep themselves thriving in an organization that lacked integrity. Not a winning team for the long term.