Can An Organization Retain its Employees TOO Well?
The answer is “yes”.
We tend to focus on employee retention as a universal goal. After all, when you hire good people, you want them to stay with your organization for a good long time.
But lately, I have chatted with C-level executives from two different organizations that have intimated that they wouldn’t mind…would actually welcome…some defections.
The first time this came up, I was surprised. I was commending the General Manager of an advertising agency on the lengthy tenures of most of his staff. I complimented him on what must be a very attractive corporate culture, and welcoming environment. And then I noticed that he didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic as I was about the lack of turnover…
I cautiously asked whether there might be an employee or two that he wouldn’t mind saying goodbye to. And he replied that yes, the longevity of so much of their staff was actually a liability…for a number of reasons. He outlined them as follows:
1. Salary creep-up. Think about it. You hire an Account Executive at $50,000. With a 3% annual raise, 10 years later they are making $65,000. Yes, there is inflation, but even in today’s dollars you could still hire an Account Executive for $50,000. You could argue that you are paying for the 10 years of experience acquired on the job. But maybe you simply don’t need an Account Executive with 10 years of experience. Especially when your Account Supervisors and Account Directors have already been with you for 10 years.
2. Lack of “pollination”. By this he meant that it is actually a good thing when employees moved on in their career. It got the agency’s name out there, and if the ex-employees landed in an environment where agency services were needed, they would reach out to the agency they knew best; their former employer. So employees moving on can actually be good for business.
3. Fresh air. I had an old boss that said that if both of us always embraced the same opinion, then one of us was unnecessary! In an environment where everybody has been there “forever”, there is a tendency towards groupthink.
New employees bring new ideas, experience and connections to an organization.
So although no organization wants to have a “revolving door” in which employees are leaving in droves, the conversation got me thinking…
And my ears perked up when I heard similar sentiments from a COO of another organization soon after. In fact, I’m wondering whether this is a more common sentiment than I realized, and now that my ears are open, I will be hearing it more often than I would have imagined.
What is the solution?
Well, there is way to “make employees leave” without firing them. I learned about it in grad school, and saw it in action earlier in my career, while working in magazine publishing. Essentially, a Manager makes life less comfortable for their employee. Nothing as blatant as harassment, but essentially take the joy out of the job…no more recognition in company meetings, no more discretionary travel, company perqs…the employee still has a job, but the message is clear: you can stay here as long as you like, but you might be happier moving on. I was uncomfortable witnessing this, although it did leave my colleague the option to leave “of his own volition”.
It’s tough when your company is a great place to work!
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