Does HR Really Want To Reduce Employee Turnover?
As a strategic consultancy focusing on Talent Management, Cultural Transformation, and Strategic Intervention, we have seen a lot of things. In fact, we have observed some really, really strange things. How do we define "strange"?
Strange in terms of observing decisions that are "counter-logical" in nature.
Case in point. A year ago we were engaged by a VP of HR from a call center organization to help them improve their hiring strategy. We carefully reviewed their current hiring strategy and then proceeded to share with them a number of selection strategies and systems that would help to reduce a considerably high rate of employee turnover. They agreed that our processes were far superior to what they had seen from other vendors and that the results would be nothing short of amazing.
Then something really, really strange happened. They walked away.
After the demos and the meetings and the debriefs, the acknowledgement that what we had was "stunning" and a "real breakthrough" they walked away. In our conversation with the VP of HR and we were told, "We have decided to shelve this project for a year or more because we are really busy right now."
Really busy right now?
Excuse me... too busy to reduce an alarmingly high rate of costly turnover?
Their recruiters would not have to "save the day" every day in order to bring in enough bodies to fill training slots.
Instead, they shut it down before it started.
The reality of the situation was that a partnership with our consultancy would have dramatically changed the landscape of this call center's HR department. Perhaps the VP of HR did not want her job of "putting out fires" and being the "hero" who "saves the day" by hiring enough people to fill seats to change.
Perhaps the recruiting staff was more than a little "freaked out" by the prospect of not having to do as much recruiting as they did previously under the "revolving door" of hiring by HR. After all... What would they do if they did not have to recruit as much? Their jobs could dramatically change. And change is not good!
The question I have for you is potentially very scary. Does your HR team like putting out the big hiring "fires"? Does your HR team relish being the ones who "save the day" and play the "hero"? Is your HR team actually fighting against reducing your employee turnover because it means their job security (as they currently know it) is in question.
Hmmmm....
Now go maximize possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
- Can Employee Turnover be too Low?
- Is Talent Management too Important to be left to HR?
- More Flawed HR Metrics: Voluntary Turnover Rate
- The High Costs of Employee Turnover
- Reducing Employee Turnover with Internships and Job Shadowing
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
