There is a very successful businessman in British Columbia, and the story goes that at his car dealership every month he fired the salesman with the lowest sales. He rationalized that he was doing that person a favour; if they weren’t suited to the job, the sooner they found out, the better for both employee and employer.
Which is complete horse manure, and conveniently ignores the usefulness of employee training programs. If anyone tried to pull that kind of stunt today, they would soon end up with no sales staff.
The Labour Market Has Changed
Progressive companies have known for years the high cost of staff turnover. They spend a great deal of time and effort on training and keeping their employees.
The “quiet quitting” movement has simply put a title to something that has been developing for several years, and greedy employers have only themselves to blame.
For some time, now, short-sighted employers have been cleverly (in their opinions) getting the most out of their employees by giving them the least. Unpaid internships, short-time contracts, part-time work and 24/7 emails means the largest number of bodies filling positions for the cheapest outlay. I mean, what’s the point in training new employees, when they’re just going to skip to other jobs once you’ve put all that money into them? Much easier to hire someone already trained. And modern communications sure make it easy to access your workers at any time, including on vacation.
Where Has the Loyalty of the Good Old Days Gone?
For several reasons, including COVID, inflation, the housing market and just-plain-feduppedness, workers are no longer so pliable. When they ask employers, “Why should I want to work for you?” and more important, “Why should I be a loyal employee?” prospective bosses need to have an answer. Using the demands of the market to disguise their inability to provide leadership will no longer suffice. If companies don’t earn loyalty, they don’t get it.
It’s Not (Always) about the Money
Progressive companies have known it all along; if you treat your staff like a commodity, you are susceptible to the swings of the market. If you have treated your employees well, they are motivated to hang around, even when they might make better money briefly by moving to another company.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need to hire me to give your management my seminar on “Creating a Team.” (Although it would be nice…?) Treat your employees well, and you’ll keep them.