This employee retention speaker and employee retention author remembers having to write policies…and job descriptions…when I was an HR Leader in industry. It was one of those mind-numbing tasks that simply drove this employee retention expert crazy. That’s why I am amazed when I see an organization that seems to have a policy for EVERYTHING! Recently, a colleague who I know was telling me the organization he works for just wrote a cell phone usage policy. Why? Because a few people had been abusing the use of cell phones on the job.
It drove my colleague nuts because it was only written because a few people were abusing the privilege of cell phone use on the job. Instead of talking to the two abusers, they punished all the good employees. Now, you have a whole bunch of P***ed off employees. Good P***ed off employees that can take their skill sets and go elsewhere or who are angry enough that they say, “screw it” and became disengaged. Don’t kid yourself…this takes place more than you can imagine because organizations write worthless policies! This is not a good employee retention strategy. But this isn’t the worst part!
After they put the policy in place, the organization does not enforce it. This really drives your good people crazy because they comply. This compounds the likelihood that people will become disengaged or quit. Fortunately for this employer, my colleague is not afraid to speak his mind. So, he goes into HR and tells them what is going on and that the good people are P***ed and asks what is going to be done about it! Basically, he forced HR’s hand and they had to speak to the supervisor to actually have the supervisor start doing their job and enforcing the policy.
From an employee retention perspective, this employee recruitment expert believes the organization should have simply talked to the abusers and told them the abuse had to stop. Treating everyone like kids destroys morale and can contribute to employee turnover. If people don’t behave properly and you talk to them and they still don’t comply, you take them through your disciplinary process and you exit them from the organization. This is showing your good people respect. The “R” in C.R.A.P.! So…stop writing worthless policies that a simple discussion with abusers will resolve!
Is your organization desperate to retain people? If you are an HR Leader, General Manager or an owner of an organization, call me at 414-305-9626 or email me at jeff@jeffkortes.com and I can explain how the C.R.A.P approach can reduce your employee turnover by 40-80%.
