Why Do They Quit?

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7 responses to “Why Do They Quit?”

1. 

   Saikat Saha

   July 1, 2008

   I find the ‘culture’ aspect very thought provoking. I completely agree that ‘culture’ breeds the desired ethos.But fostering the right culture is rare. It’s mainly because a lot of people managers get a feeling that creating the culture is a lengthy process and the benefits of the culture would be enjoyed by his successor & not by him.A culture can gain it’s visibility and effectiveness only when the culture gets percolated in the bottom of the hierarchy.Personally I feel implementing the right culture in itself needs a well thought out study of the existing culture,recognising the desired cultur which is aligned with the vision and mission statement of the company and then ‘coaching’ the key people on implementation of the desired culture.Secondly, I want to emphasize on the ‘exit interview’ part. These days when an employee says goodbye to his company ; he makes a point to ‘google’ the key words ‘How to leave a company gracefully???’.He instantly tries to give his best during the notice period, stops taking any ‘panga’ with his superior and makes it a point to write ‘ how lovely it would be for him to come back and serve the esteemed company’. These exit interviews do not really serve the exact purpose then.Personally I feel a second round of exit interview must take place after 6 months. It gives the employee more candor and also a different perspective as he would be serving a different culture at a different workplace then.If we can take multiple interviews during selection then why not multiple exit interview after a medium amount of time gap????The article is fantastic and this website is my favourite learning site.Thanks for being an inspiration.-Saikat Saha[A wanna be HR superstar]

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2. 

   Sujata Kalra

   July 2, 2008

   Hello SirThis is very true. Really great article.Thanks for sharingCheersSujata

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3. 

   Sujata Kalra

   July 2, 2008

   Good article and trueCheersSujata

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4. 

   Manish Sinha

   July 2, 2008

   Absolutely right Abhijit. Culture of an organisation is not what is written on the blackboard but its what the employees feel.It takes small steps of mutual appreciation, reward and recognition, freedom to work independently, higher levels of responsibility and ownership, greater opportunities to learn new things etc to make an employee stick around. Another aspect which is truly important is the challenge in the assignment. What you are doing day in and day out makes you feel dull or excited. Most of it is directly driven by the manager and hence his role becomes very important.I remember having worked in an organisation where my manager used to say ” Please don’t use your brain, do what I say”. This was the foremost reason for me to quit. I didn’t mention in my exit interview about this incident but it actually had made me look outside. This was actually a mirror image of the culture prevalent in the organisation.Once you start managing a team and have direct reports, each of your action is looked upto and scrutinised by your team. Any obvious bias or overt prejudice gets noticed and makes employees feel jittery. These aspects may not get mentioned in the values and code of conduct of every organisation but the days of win -lose relationship between employer- employee are over. There are more jobs than people. And on top of it, talent is always a scarcity. Hence apart from obnoxiously high salaries and freebies, what actually motivates employees is how you behave with them and how much freedom is given to carry out their work. This very much forms a part of the culture of the organisation.

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5. 

   Amrita Mohanty

   July 3, 2008

   Good observation Abhi.Most of the time people ‘do not’ quit organisations because of pull factors..Because.. your bonding with your organisation and people around is as strong as with any other aspect in life. And if you share such a bonding, the pull factors do not work on you much.. unless and untill, its some specific thing you demand and you are offered elsewhere. I believe , more than money and designation, its comfort and feel good factor that matters to anyone at work place. No one wants to start of a day in an office where you are ill treated and misbehaved with ..throughout the month to be paid heavily at the end of it. People are content and happy, if they are valued and cared for in the workplace, even if they might not be heavily paid.I guess its 99% times only the push factors that work and not the pull factor.And when we talk of push factor, you r very right when you said , people quit managers. People management neither can be learned through experience nor in B school classrooms. Its an art , its a person’s personality , attitude. So boss, hiring IIM grads in HR or putting experienced people into people management doesnt help. Being a good human being helps. And theres no measuring yardstick for that. If i own a company tommrow, i would observe my employees and try putting only those people into people management , who i see are everyone’s favourite on the floor.. have a manager voting. have a casual environment.. ” no qualification ..no experience can make you a manager.. what makes you excel is your attitude towards people” would ve my policy !Hope we get rid of dirty managers some day.. only have cool dudes to guide us..!!Cheers..

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6. 

   Abhijit Bhaduri

   July 3, 2008

   Hi Saikat, Sujata and Manish – thanks for stopping by and writing your opinion on the ‘quit pro quo’ process!!Manish – I am glad you left the manager who asked you to work without using your brains. That probably was what he had done when he had joined and see what he turned out to be!!

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7. 

   Subroto Baul

   July 5, 2008

   Very very correct ! Could not agree more with Amrita’s views on push factors being more often the bane – in fact substantially leading over pull factors in nearly all the cases !What to do next ?a) Look upto the heavens and pray all “dirty managers” change overnight under a ruling / spell cast by God Almighty – the ultimate skip level manager.b) Do more and more analysis / discussion / brainstorming over what needs to be done to move the culture to the desired zone for all to perceive on the same lines ?c) Bring it to the table not to be discussed or explored but to be solved – here and now with a timebased plan and targets at each step.I am sure all of us will like to go with c.Some thoughts :i) Agree on the problem and its effect on Topline : Enough of paying lipservice to academic discussions on Talent being the sole source of competitive advantage and how important it is to engage Talent.If every time a manufacturing operation closes down,/ a government ruling increases input prices / market survey shows gain in market share of competitors / value of rupee goes up / down – calls for a board meeting – why not loss of “Talent ” – the most important revenue making, value creating, scarce resource ever found ?HR needs to present the business case as convincingly as an Advertising and Promotion Budget proposal by the Marketing Department. The Senior Management needs to see how the firm is “bleeding.” The cost of the “bleeding” should be presented – not only in present cost but also a strategic view ( including external environment and other related variables) of the future trend of how this bleeding is going to paralyze the organization’s bottomline.The effect on topline needs to be captured. Its not impossible – neither is it wishy-washy. Yes there is not standard formulae. Now this is the challenge – Every business- every HR guy will have to select his approach. No standard management theories / models to here – plan and simple- hard hitting problem statement and effective problem solving skills will be needed to get the Top Management’s attention !ii) Plan – Do :Managing “Talent” is as important as managing the number of casual employees in a plant during the peak production season. There need to be regular analysis – regular review meets – action plans – review of action plans – status checks – start all over again.Deferred Multiple exit interviews are a must ! If multiple selection interviews are necessary to ensure you get the right talent, multiple deferred exit interviews are a sine qua non to ensure you keep getting the right talent ! The interviews have to be treated as important data points which will if worked on scientifically generate data to trigger and improve Organizational Effectiveness more than any product innovation or service delivery improvement !Accuracy of data must be tested ! Data from mulitiple interactions with the same employee at different periods post exits must be collated for across the company. Proper deep dives into the data must be made to scan it for trends! These deep dives must go deep into what is actually being perceived as the fabric of the culture of the real organization vs. the professed culture. What is the present state ? What is the desired state ? Why ? How to reach there ? By when ? Who will make it happen ?Top Management must be involved in the deep dive. Testing of the data must be made by multiple methods- and the final findings must be presented on a bi monthly / quarterly basis to the CEO . The action plans along with timelines – tollgates – responsibilities must be arrived at by the Top Management & CEO. ( The committment for the same must be ensured in step 1 itself)iii ) Review -What is not reviewed is not important enough ! – That is my learning of the sum total of my experience at work.When sales nos, product margin, defective parts, service delivery measures, gross margins, hiring TAT, attrition %, cost, are review worthy – then why not the Culture of the Organization. Why not the bleeding of talent ?If that sounds / reads like deja vu – if we feel we’ve done all that and nothing works – or no one’s interested… it only serves for good discussion on coffee corner and blogs… think again -This is far far far more serious than thatWe are all – at the same time – in the same water – all in the same “swimming pool.”Clean the water – or continue swimming in a contaminated pool !

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