Thursday, September 8, 2011

Are you losing your employees? Do you want to know why?


Are you losing your employees? Do you want to know why?
Written by: Nisreen Qaqish / General Manager AZARHRS



During the last two years working as a consultant I have met several CEO’s for Small and Medium Enterprises and whenever I meet some I hear the same complains “We have high turnover”, “Employees are not loyal as they used to be”,   “People do not want to work at SME, they use us to gain experience and then to work with corporates” and much 
more…..



Are the statements above true or not I am not sure, but I think if we are aware of Maslow and Herzberg theory then we will know why people are leaving us?

As per the pyramid above what leads to dissatisfaction and then would force people to leave is the following:
1-      Salary
Do you believe that your employees can pay their bills and essential expenses i.e. food? If they cannot then they will leave soon once they have a 10 JD increase
2-      Job Security
Do your employees feel that they would lose their job or their job is secured? If your employees feel that there is no job security then definitely they will leave you
3-      Relationship with direct Manager
Are your direct managers competent, they know how to communicate with their team, they are respectful and resourceful?  Or they are bossy and control freak? If your managers do not know how to communicate, manage and motivate their employees then they will leave? Remember “People leave managers not companies”.
4-      Relationship with Peers
Have you created a teamwork culture? Do your employees know how to handle conflict resolution?  If there is no harmony between your employees then you will lose them?
5-      Work Conditions
Have you created a safe environment? Do you care about the wellness of your employees or you have created a tough working condition were your employees are over stressed and burnt-out? Unsafe environment, stressed and burnout environment are not really tempting to work with
6-      Company Policy
Do you have clear set of policies? Are your policies flexible and easy to understand or very strict and fixed?
7-      Growth and Career Advancement
Do you have career ladders? Do you offer learning opportunities? Do you have potential to grow? Do you have succession planning? Your top employees need to grow otherwise they will leave you
8-      Recognition
Do you reward your top achievers; do you recognize their work in public? As people like to be appreciated and rewarded not for what they are but for what they do? Even though people they do not ask for recognition but believe they need it more than money
9-      Work itself
Have you created meaningful jobs? Have you hired the right person for the right positions or you are hiring over-qualified employees where they feel demotivated? Bad recruitment decision might lead to meaningless job and then would create an urgency to leave
10-  Achievement
Do your employees feel that they are contributing to the success of the company? Can your employees share their ideas, and do you listen to those ideas and make used of them?


6 comments:

  1. The pyramid above is quite old thinking, CULTURE is what makes a person feel like an employee or feel like a stakeholder .. CULTURE is the keyword :)

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  2. Dear Culture expert;

    Hope you're enjoying your seat in the corner office. How about having a coffee with the subordinates and 'listen' to them?
    Go back to basics, all the rest is philosophy!

    A.H

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  3. Dear friend,

    Culture is the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values in each organization and all of these are stemmed from the practices among the organizations that cover all the above- issues.
    I.e. A strong culture will have motivated employees and competent leaders while a weak culture may not have both.
    The diagram above it is an indication about how to create a motivated employees and when you have a motivated employees then most probably will have a strong culture.
    The implementation or the lack of implementation of the above practices would lead to a strong or weak culture.....

    Nisreen Qaqish

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  4. Hi

    What is mentioned above is true & I totally agree, these are different factors that cause high employees turnover, but the question is, Can we achieve all the 10 items mentioned above with every single employee to make sure that he will not leave? Definitely we can’t and we shouldn’t. We can NOT prompt everyone, we can NOT increase every ones Salary, we can NOT recognize every single employee, other wise it will not be a recognition.

    Understanding employee is the Key. I believe that the 10 items you mentioned are important for every employee BUT in different order depends on his Personality Profile, every one has his own hierarchy that includes the above items and maybe more but in different order.

    I totally agree with you, but its very important to add a certain way or system that will help understanding employees needs, motivators & basic fears which will increase employees satisfaction + easy to manage

    Thanks a lot for your posting, it was great to read

    Amir El Assaad

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  5. Dear Amir,
    Thank you for your comments. I agree with you and I think of so many tools and systems owners or HR managers can implement in order to enhance all the above factors below are some:
    1- Proper Job Evaluation
    2- Transfer Managers to Leaders
    3- Exit Interviews to monitor all the above factors
    4- Provide Training opportunities
    5- Develop Internal Communication systems or tools. i.e. yammer
    Best Regards,
    Nisreen Qaqish

    ReplyDelete
  6. nice posting, thank you Nisreen

    ReplyDelete