What to do when your people leave you?

BY MARK CHEW

Have you ever cursed under your breath because a colleague just tendered his resignation and you have to pick up the mess? Or have you ever asked yourself, “If only I knew that person was so lazy, I would never include her in my team!”

Is there a particular reason why people leave the company? Is it because they can’t work in a team? Can’t we just replace these employees by hiring others? Is there even a cost involved in attrition or employee turnover?
Therefore understanding why people leave is perhaps the best way to managing attrition rates.

The cost of attrition rates
Employees still walk away from their jobs, even with the uncertainties of global and local economic growth because of the following reasons:
• Lack of growth opportunities
• Dissatisfaction with salary
• Employees feeling their contributions aren't being recognized.

Growth and recognition are particularly important to Generation X and Y workers. They have higher expectations of their employers and mentors. They will not hesitate to leave if they feel they are getting the raw deal.

Let's put this in perspective. Assuming a Singaporean company’s monthly attrition rate of 3 percent. Using the median personal income of full-time Singaporean workers of $32,000 per year, and assuming a 100 percent of salary as turnover cost, for a company with 100 employees. You will incur an annual cost of about $1.1 million!

Such cost is disguised in the form of lost productivity, and other less immediately obvious factors. Therefore recognizing the cost of attrition is important.

Productive Solutions
Before you place new team members, and employees through a‘baptism of fire’, ask yourself the following:
• Do you have any effective onboarding process to make them feel part of the company and team?
• Have you ever taken time to find out their personal and professional goals?
• Do you know their teaming characteristics?
• Have you apprised them of your desired outcome in the particular assignment?

A simple assessment tool can help you in finding out more information of your employees and team members’ ability to work in a team. It can also help you discover the hidden ‘talent and skills’ that they may have forgotten to share during the interview.

When optimized with effective and sustainable talent management practices, such role-based assessment tools can enhance organizational performance and deliver substantial profits.

Mark Chew is the Founder and Principal Strategist of Giants Learning Technologies Pte. Ltd. He is the author of ‘Discover Your Leadership Style’.

Contact him personally at mark@chewmark.com to find out more about RBA Tools, or visit http://www.giants-lt.com for his workshops and leadership tools.

The views expressed in this column are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect this publication's view, and this article is not edited by Singapore Business Review. The author was not remunerated for this article.