I was having dinner with a couple of my friends and ordered a pizza. When it was served, I tasted it, but I didn’t like the taste at all, so I barely ate one slice, and I thought, “The place is nice, but maybe the food is not that good.” However, I didn’t mention anything to the staff and kept chatting with my friends. Suddenly the server, who was observing me from afar, came, and she asked me if I didn’t like the pizza; I shyly said: “yes, I honestly didn’t like it, but it’s ok.” Then, without arguing, she took the pizza and asked me to order anything else without additional payment.
I didn’t ask the server to change my order, and I didn’t make any complaint, but she noticed her customer was not consuming their product and decided to take an action. This excellent service ensured that this restaurant won a regular.
The number of times I became a regular in a salon, a spa, or a clinic because the services of a specific staff member are countless, which also meant that if the professional I liked moved places, I followed them.
But how does this fit with the famous, very provocative saying “everyone is replaceable” that corporates keep repeating endlessly?
Management in many companies is careless when it comes to giving proper bonuses or annual increases to their top talent. When the talented employees finally speak up, asking for what’s rightfully theirs, especially after contributing to the company’s success, the management decides the talents are “strongarming” them.
This saying is hugely harmful to companies before employees. It is a no-brainer that talents should and must be considered one of the company’s assets, which means that top Management should be working on making the workplace an attractive environment to nourish and maintain such assets. If companies ignore this fact, they will spend much time replacing just one talent, training the newcomer, and monitoring their performance to see if they are a good fit. And even if they are, will they have the loyalty and dedication of the previous talent? Will they juggle the many duties/tasks their predecessor used to do that were not actually part of their job description? How many people are you replacing them with?
If management still needs more reasons to be convinced, let’s talk money. According to Gallup, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary. Add a highly competitive and tight labour market to the mix, which is true in many countries now, and most organizations probably can’t survive the loss of good people.
Companies wishing to ditch the mentality of “take it or leave it” and cut their losses from the exodus of their talent can consider the following:
- Establish a bonus system based on meritocracy to ensure that your top employees are rewarded.
- Create a positive and attractive environment in the workplace.
- Make sure your managers are making regular one-on-ones with their team members.
- Create anonymous channels to give general feedback regarding the companies in case some of your employees are worried about openly voicing their concerns.
- During any exit interview, the HR team must understand the reasons behind the voluntary leave. Based on that, management needs to enhance its benefits or environment as much as possible, especially if the company suffers from regular turnovers.
Imagine the management of the restaurant letting go of that dedicated professional server, how many customers would they lose before they acknowledge their mistake? Worse, how many companies would even realize that THIS was the reason for their losses to begin with?
