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How To Lose Your Best Employees
- stale 13y agoit's 10/10 for my current employer :)
- jonathanjaeger 13y agoHas your current employer lost some of the best employees on account of being 10/10?
- stale 13y agoYeah, quite a few.
- alan_cx 13y agoUm, errr, eeek...... you have implied you are not one of their best employees, since its 10/10 and you are still there.... Doh? ;)
- levosmetalo 13y agoGiven the smiley at he end of the parent post, he probably won't be there for a long time.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- stale 13y agoBingo :) Although they are promising some advancement so I'll see.
- krmmalik 13y agoThe article is a little sparse, but great points. I put a Haiku Deck on something similar but from a Good Manager vs Bad Manager perspective in terms of what bad managers are doing that affects their ability to retain talent. I can link it here if anyone is interested(?)
- GFischer 13y agoI am, can you link to it? :) I also want to find some research a professor once mentioned, about the traits that employees associated with good managers/bosses (I recall that almost all were personal, almost none technical).
- krmmalik 13y agoHere's the deck: http://www.haikudeck.com/p/BdYQODxkxD/good-manager-bad-manager http://www.haikudeck.com/p/BdYQODxkxD/good-manager-bad-manag... For the research you could try looking up the works of Patrick Lioncini, he also has a great book on the subject called "five dysfunctions of a team". In my experience, poor talent management and execution always comes down to egos, so yes, you would be right in thinking that it's almost always a personal level issue. When egos are involved, that's what you'll get. See an answer of mine on Quora also: http://qr.ae/I5brc http://qr.ae/I5brc
- GFischer 13y agoThank you, will do!
- edw519 13y ago11. Make decisions that affect workers for which they have valuable input, but don't seek that input. 12. Make decisions that affect workers for which they have valuable input, seek that input, but ignore it and do what you want anyway. 13. Say one thing and do another. (Mission Statement = A, What We Really Do = B) 14. Have no idea what it actually takes to get things done. 15. Have no idea who people are and what they do. 16. Believe that management is "over" workers. (Fail to understand that until a worker actually builds something, management has nothing to manage and ownership has nothing to count.) 17. Treat workers as unequals. 18. Act like children. 19. Pay late. 20. Drive the business into the toilet. 21. Make work so difficult or pointless that you drive your best workers to Hacker News.
- atwebb 13y agoOdd, I didn't realize we'd worked together.
- skylan_q 13y agoPresent them an exclusivity contract that lasts 3 years
- justindz 13y agoRe: #16, my experience with and in management positions is that we no longer think of managers as people who specialize in management and whose function is to help a pool of natural talent stay coordinated, focused, challenged and rewarded. We instead think of them as people who do 40+ hours a week of their own specialized, non-management work but who also have to do performance reviews. I try to take a mentor/servant/counselor approach with my team, but it's difficult to do and my own experience suggests that it's a fairly uncommon mentality.
- corresation 13y ago12. is a tough one, and is the reason that businesses often choose 11. The danger of soliciting input is that people often couple too much of their ego with their suggestions. You can't possibly go with every suggestion or incorporate all input (because let's face it - most of it is usually poorly thought out), so when you give everyone their say and then have to go a different direction from much of it, people get angry and resentful. I worked with one chap who literally hung onto his discarded idea about a bit (seriously, a bit field in a database) for years, with it reappearing with a bitter sense of pride with every new database discussion.
- mrcactu5 13y agomore bloggers should use creative rhetoric. instead of yet another soapbox "10 things you should do article" he plausibly argues the other side. "training is costly, don't do it." the irony here is like a cup of coffee.
- netcan 13y ago#0 Be in a time, place and industry where employees have options. ..
- gesman 13y agoThe only worse thing to training employees and losing them is NOT training them and keeping them. --Zig Ziglar
- nilkn 13y ago> Keep decision-making securely ensconced in the airless bunker of the executive wing. Avoid empowering mid-tier employees lest they suddenly become entrepreneurial and unpredictable. Just my opinion, but I think (8) is the most insightful of these and perhaps the least obvious (though they are all obvious to an extent). (8) is also the hardest to do right. You don't want to drag a developer to five executive meetings a day so that he doesn't have time to do development; that could in itself drive him/her away. But you also don't want any of your developers to feel like they don't know what's going on with the business at a higher level, and if they have an insight there should be an easy and comfortable avenue for them to discuss it.
- gesman 13y agoPaying MIN("DOE", "market rate", AVG('other employees')) to the best employees.
- shuaib 13y agoLets be fair guys. Someone needs to articulate "10 ways to get fired by your best employer", now too.
- antjanus 13y agoMan, now I want to write that.
- hiccup 13y ago#0 Don't pay anything close to what the employee is worth. Underpay, furlough, slow-pay your best employees to really build that desire to see if the grass is greener elsewhere.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- linker3000 13y ago'n') Require Director-level approval to spend about £20 on 2 USB powered hubs AND have the director visit to inspect the two laptops that need the hubs just to make sure you're not being extravagant.
- pekru 13y agoA shortened list #0. Force usage of shitty/hopeless tools/frameworks at work. #1. Pay late #2. Ask for TPS reports #3. Recruit a bunch of abusive retards for middle/senior management These four, for sure!
- kadabra9 13y agoThis seems so obvious and straightforward, but it bears repeating: If you value someone as an employee, show them. Whether this is through salary increases, promotions, or even just pulling someone aside for five minutes and saying "Hey, you're doing a great job." ....show them. Especially on younger employees, its amazing how powerful a moment of unsolicited praise from a manager or senior level employee can be. Obviously a bigger salary and promotions help as well, but companies often act surprised when someone they considered their "best employee" walks out, but how would this so called "best employee" even know they were highly valued in the first place when they cant get a raise that keeps up with inflation, or their manager can't even take five minutes every now and then to congratulate him/her on a job well done?
- drzaiusapelord 13y ago>"Hey, you're doing a great job." I never understood this advice. Not to sound arrogant, but I know I'm good. What I need from you is enough financial compensation so that my skillset/experience matches up with a competitive salary or I'm going to go elsewhere for that salary. I'm not a child. I don't need reassurance and tricks like "hey lets have casual Thursdays and a pingpong table" are NOT substitutes for the money I deserve.
- hackinthebochs 13y agoCompletely agreed. Praise from the company is basically worthless to me; I don't need to be told that I'm good, if I'm doing well I'll know it. If you truly value my services then the only meaningful way to show that is through increased salary. Anything less is simply an attempt at manipulation. Recognition in front of peers is good for other reasons, but its not a replacement for financial reward.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- aestra 13y ago>I don't need to be told that I'm good, if I'm doing well I'll know it. This might sound strange to you, but some subset of the population won't know it. Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger_effect[1]? Actual competence may weaken self-confidence and the unskilled might have illusory superiority. There are also many cultural and social environments where an individual person comes from which gives them a negative self image no matter how well they are performing. It might not even occur to them they are doing a good job. Victims of abuse, for example. Taking a second or two to say "good job" gives the person actual feedback. I'm not saying you should make a show, but job feedback is important. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
- ttty 13y agoDon't even say "thanks" when you save them 10000€, when nobody asked me to do anything...
- ChikkaChiChi 13y agoMy #1 - Treat your employees not as assets but as negative impacts to your bottom line. You'd do it better yourself if you had the time, but instead you had to hire me. I have Stockholm Syndrome. My biggest problem is that I'm now being overworked so much (intentionally) that I collapse from exhaustion when I go home and don't have the energy to spend looking for a new job.
- dcpdx 13y agoJust quit. Then you'll have all the time in the world to look for a new job.
- vonmoltke 13y agoNot everyone has the luxury to tolerate that risk. I considered doing that myself, but considering how long it took me to find a job while employed I would have been looking at multiple months of unemployment before landing something, which would have caused its own stresses, pressures, and exhaustion.
- ChikkaChiChi 13y agoThis. At least here I know what I know, even if I don't like it. But that's also me convincing myself that I'm ok here. The worst part is the demoralization that happens. You start to feel like you are becoming less useful to other organizations.
- smackfu 13y agoAnother very common one is chipping away at any and all costs until it's ridiculous. This is usually because cutting costs is an easy way for management to make their numbers if revenue is flat. At first it really is cutting the fat, but eventually you run out of fat and start making life difficult for employees. It's especially bad when the size of the cuts is meaningless compared to the cost of a given employee. Making a $100k+ employee work with a 3-year-old $1000 laptop for an extra year shouldn't make any sense in a proper company, but it's incredibly common.
- sogen 13y ago+1
- johngalt 13y agoIT here. We have the hardware debate with the business guys relentlessly. Understand that the business guys just see it like this: If <replacement parts> + <Tech time> is less than the cost of a new machine, then repair the old one. Additionally 'why throw out something that works?' These two thought processes lead to some harmful decisions regarding hardware. I've seen 5-7 year old machines being used by people who bring in millions.
- Nimi 13y agoSounds like you tried to confront them with the argument that "investing another 1000$ in this guy's machine will change your bottom line in the millions". What did they say in response?
- smackfu 13y agoUsually the problem is that you have factual savings vs. theoretical profits. And theory loses to facts.
- johngalt 13y agoI've tried various angles, some more successful than others. The 'increased productivity' pitch fails universally. I never even mention that anymore. On average it has a negative impact. Managers are too jaded to that pitch. Their 'I'm being sold something' antenna goes up. It's not that they have some cogent counter argument, it's just that the discussion stops. If you want to make the hardware situation better. I recommend these two approaches. 1. Loss aversion. Detail what an unplanned outage costs. Lost work, man hours, even lost business if it's bad enough timing. Business guys have a respect for the missing nail that lost the war. 2. Cheapness. Buying a $1000 laptop every two years is better than a $2000 laptop every four. Better average hardware and less paying guys like me to fix broken machines. Business guys are more likely to write small checks. Paradoxically you are spending the same amount of money, but you can sell it to them like you are spending less. Above all be respectful. They aren't idiots, they may have issues to worry about that you aren't aware of.
- protomyth 13y agoThere is a problem with the suggestion in #6 and it applies to management. Some companies believe they need to do this for management, and since the managers know they will be moving, they optimize for short term gain at the expense of long term sustainability. A favorite tactic of managers is to fire Q&A and support staff. This is a short term win on the bottom line, but will kill things later. It makes them look good as they get to say they "optimized the workflow". Another excellent one is to put a freeze on equipment buying and let it rot. If you become a big wig and are in a company inclined to move people around for experience, please, please, please add something to your evaluations that look at the position they left 1 year ago and judge them on the sustainability. If they don't help enforce a sustainable process, then they will be fired as they are just a selfish, game-player.
- djscram 13y agoPretty sure the last place I worked did all ten of those. And it did lose anyone who was any good. The joke was that the only way to get respect was to leave and get re-hired.
- vonmoltke 13y agoThe defense industry has three paths to real advancement: 1) Become the rock star/golden child for a higher-up who pulls you along as they rise 2) Move from company to company every so often to get positions with higher salary grade and responsibility 3) Become the oracle of technical knowledge in some narrow but crucial specialty
- johngalt 13y agoMy #1: Act as if you only have to do what is legally required. Bonus points if you use this as an excuse to play hardball and avoid keeping promises. I've had two employers change their employee benefits packages/bonus structures sharply negatively within <1 year of being hired. In both cases I went up the chain and asked what other compensation I could expect. I was very reasonable and offered them several alternatives. I'm empathetic to a tough situation, and am willing to be flexible. In both cases it was like talking to a tape recording. 'benefits are not guaranteed, and legally we are within our rights to change at any time' and 'sorry it's policy hands are tied'. Yes I understand that you can do that, but you've effectively rescinded what we negotiated when I recently agreed to work here. The most frustrating part of the whole thing is how quickly things change once a two week notice is given. As if the retention offer does anything but underscore their dishonesty.