“We’re bleeding people! What is going on?”
Ever been there? It’s stressful on you, your managers, and maybe worst yet--your rock solid employees that you certainly can’t afford to lose. As a recruiter within a company that provides hourly employees for companies, I’m always going to recommend taking a proactive approach to recruiting. Never stop recruiting, always interview, and allow us to manage a backlog of candidates so you always have options. But in this case, if you’re consistently bleeding employees and you don’t know why (NOT talking about losing people to Covid-19), it’s time to apply a Band-Aid, and then start making changes so you don’t make the same mistakes in the future.
Employees leave for a variety of reasons--lack of career advancement opportunities, work-life balance, pay, or even managers’ professionalism. But you don’t know until you ask.
If you’re lucky, there will be a peaceful transition, with a proper two weeks’ notice, and the bridge between you and your now ex-employee will stay intact. Building in the exit interview into their goodbye is as easy as setting up a short interview as the employee is on their way out.
But what about those times when they storm out of the building, because they’ve just “had it,” or worse? Try following up with a text. “Hey, we’re sorry to see you go and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t work it out. What can we do better to improve our work environment in the future?” or “I’d like to hear from your perspective what we can do differently.” You’ll find that people don’t mind airing their frustrations to you, which is valuable to you, and they may even appreciate that you took into consideration what they have to say.
I’m not saying you should ask them to come back after a toxic workplace eruption, but I am saying that their perspective is valuable, and you should take it into consideration; especially if it’s not the first time you’ve heard a similar perspective from other ex-employees. Then you can make tweaks within your organization from there.
When clients struggle with high turnover or “bleeding staff,” we at Eden Resources provide them with a list of Exit Interview questions, and coach them through the process, and help analyze the results. If you’re in a place where you need a Band-Aid, we’re here to help you take this step!
Niki Kukla, Managing Partner
Eden Resources, LLC