This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert has personally experienced corporate buy outs as a former HR Leader. I have also seen this as an employee retention expert. Employees observe these happenings and wonder if the new owners know what the hell they are doing. Recently, I talked with the insect guy who came in to do my quarterly bug inspection. In his case, it was the opposite of what often happens. He commented that, “The new owners haven’t made massive changes…that’s why I’m still here.” Senior leadership often doesn’t understand that how they handle a cultural transition can quite negatively employee retention.
Aside from the employee retention strategy aspect, this employee recruitment expert has seen organizations destroy great cultures and lose millions of dollars as a result. So, it’s not just an employee turnover issue, it’s a corporate sustainability issue. What often takes place is people get scared and wonder about the viability of their job, so they get on the internet and start searching. It’s only a matter of time before they find that new job. This can result in a huge knowledge drain.
Other than the issue of fear impacting employee turnover, employees simply don’t want to put up with the bull***t that massive changes cause them in their job. Most employees know their job and know it well. They have tribal knowledge and have refined their job to eliminate waste and increase efficiency. Then someone who does not understand comes in and tells them everything they have been doing is wrong. If that were the case for most organizations, they would have been out of business already.
Massive changes are disruptive to a culture and often to productivity, quality and to operational effectiveness. The changes should be well thought out and make sense because if you make massive changes that don’t make sense…you will see your people leaving in droves!
Is your organization desperate to retain people? If you are an HR Leader, General Manager or an owner of an organization, call me of email me at jeff@jeffkortes.com to learn how the C.R.A.P, (Caring, Respect, Appreciation, Praise) process can reduce your employee turnover by 40-80%.
