Employee turnover

I found Azim Premji's note to his managers (below) on employee turnover an interesting read. The manager maybe one reason for attrition, but I think the problem runs deeper. At least for me, I know it was not just the manager or the money.... I call it the "employer fatigue" syndrome ... Calling it a syndrome is probably a little extreme... cause a syndrome is defined as “a combination of signs and/or symptoms that forms a distinct clinical picture indicative of a particular disorder” (from Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary). But that said, I'll try to put a finger on what exactly I mean by employer fatigue syndrome. Maybe it already exists, I've never researched it so I honestly don't know. Remember the Gulf War Syndrome...

Now to call it a syndrome, we need to list symptoms right, I will try do just that... At most exit interviews, employees end up using term/terms similar to "fed up of work," "work being a drag," "bored," "stagnation," and many other dramatic words.

I'm still building my theory. I will continue this some other time ...


It’s from Mr. Azim Premji's desk on 22nd Meet Mr. Premji forwarded to his
colleagues……. It’s a Must Read For everyone.
WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANIZATIONS?
Every company normally faces one common problem of high employee turnout
ratio. People are leaving the company for better pay, better profile or simply for
just one reason' pack gay '. This article might just throw some light on the
matter... After reading it' I realized how true the subject line of this mail is.
Early this year, Arun, an old friend who is a senior software designer, got an
offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations
developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer. He had heard a lot
about the CEO of this company, charismatic man often quoted in the business
press for his visionary attitude. The salary was great. The company had all the
right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a
spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served
superb food. Twice Arun was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the
sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined. "It's a real high working
with such cutting edge technology." Last week, less than eight months after he
joined.
Arun walked out of the job.

He has no other offer in hand but he said he couldn't take it anymore. Nor,
apparently, could several other people in his department who have also quit
recently. The CEO is distressed about the high employee turnover. He's
distressed about the money he's spent in training them. He's distressed
because he can't figure out what happened.
Why did this talented employee leave despite a top salary? Arun quit for the
same reason that drives many good people away. The answer lies in one of the
largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over
a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called:
‘First Break All the Rules’
It came up with this surprising finding: If you're losing good people, look to
their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the
reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they
quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them.
Often, straight to the competition.
"People leave Bosses not companies" write the authors Marcus Buckingham
and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of
keeping good people - in the form of better pay, better perks and better
training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly manager issue." If you have a
turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving people away?
Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money, and
more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this
depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to
happen to good people everywhere. A Fortune magazine survey some years
ago found that nearly 75 per cent of employees have suffered at the hands of
difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf
in a pin-stripe suit in the next one.

Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly
impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees. HR experts say
that of all the abuses, employees find public humiliation the most intolerable.
The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted.
The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he starts
looking for another job. When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so
by passive aggression.
By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to
do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If
you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble.
You don't have your heart and soul in the job." Different managers can stress
out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too
pushy, too critical, but they forget that ‘workers are not fixed assets, they are
free agents’.

When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over seemingly trivial
issue. It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that
went before. And while it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons-
for better opportunities or for circumstantial reasons, many who leave would
have stayed - had it not been for one man constantly telling them, as Arun's
boss did: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens like you." While it seems like
there are plenty of other fish especially in today's waters, consider for a
moment the cost of losing a talented employee. There's the cost of finding a
replacement.
The cost of training the replacement. The cost of not having someone to do the
job in the meantime. The loss of clients and contacts the person had with the
industry. The loss of morale in co-workers. The loss of trade secrets this person
may now share with others. Plus, of course, the loss of the company's
reputation.
‘Every person who leaves a corporation then becomes its ambassador,
for better or for worse’.
We all know of large IT companies that people would love to join and large
television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees
have left to tell their tales. "Any company trying to compete must figure out a
way to engage the mind of every employee," Jack Welch of GE once said. Much
of a company's value lies "between the ears of its employees". If it's bleeding
talent, it's bleeding value.
Unfortunately, many senior executives busy traveling the world,
signing new deals and developing a vision for the company, have
little idea of what may be going on at home ????