Ever wonder why one of your best people really quit? The following list is even truer today than when we first published it as a Hiring Hint in 2013!
10. Don’t make each new hire feel welcome and valued. Employees are most impressionable during the first 60 days on the job. Every bit of information gathered during this time will either reinforce your new hire’s “buying decision” (to take the job) or lead to “New Hire’s Remorse” — especially if you shunt them off to fill out reams of paperwork and watch training videos while you do “important things.”
9. Treat everyone equally. While this may sound good, your employees are not equal. Some are worth more because they produce more results. Some prefer hands-on management while others would rather take the ball and run with it. The key, then, is not to treat them equally, but to treat everyone fairly and with respect.
8. Enforce dumb rules. I did not say enforce no rules, I said don’t enforce dumb rules. Great employees want to have guidelines and direction, but they don’t want to deal with rules that get in the way of doing their jobs or that conflict with the company’s stated values.
7. Don’t recognize outstanding performance. Remember Psychology 101 — Behavior you want repeated must be recognized and rewarded immediately.
6. Don’t keep your people informed. If you don’t tell them what’s up, the rumor mill will. You’ve got to communicate not only the good, but also the bad and the ugly.
5. Don’t develop an employee retention strategy. Employee retention deserves your attention every day. Make a list of the people you don’t want to lose and, next to each name, write down what you are doing or will do to ensure that person stays engaged and on board.
4. Tolerate mediocrity. A-players don’t have to or want to play with a bunch of C-players and they will come to resent the need to carry the load for any slackers you keep on payroll.
3. Don’t do employee-retention interviews. Instead, you wait until a great employee is walking out the door and conduct a posthumous exit interview to see what you could have done differently to keep them on board.
2. Don’t have any fun at work. Where’s the written rule that says work has to be serious? The notion that work cannot be fun is actually counterproductive. The workplace should be fun. Find ways to make work and/or the work environment more relaxed and enjoyable and you will have happy employees who look forward to coming to work each day.
1. Micromanage everything. Squash creativity and innovation in the bud by telling them what they need to do and exactly how to do it. Don’t tell them why it needs doing or why their contributions are important. And, above all, don’t ask for their input on how it might be done better.
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