Let’s say you were given a diagnosis of some type of cancer. It is spreading through your body and the prognosis is very bad. A doctor comes into the room and offers you two pills. The first pill will cure the cancer. The second pill will have an indirect benefit, such as alleviation of some but not all of the pain. The first pill will save your life. The second pill would have the narrow benefit; but would not change the long term prognosis. Which pill would you take?
Organizations have a cancer called employee turnover. Many of these organizations have a very negative prognosis. They buy products which are sold for another purpose; but they are also sold as having a side benefit. This side benefit has an indirect effect on employee turnover. In my review of these products they can indeed have some limited benefit. However, they only have benefits if used within an overall management strategy of reducing employee turnover. These products will not cure your employee turnover. The only true cure for employee turnover is a change in mindset with management process changes.
Choose your pill carefully
There was an organization which had a major problem with Employee Turnover, Chronically Open Positions and Skills Gap. They lost people daily. We spent untold hours recruiting every day in a job position which was hard to fill. This particular job classification demanded a State Certificate of Training and they were in short supply. Without the certification they were not able to perform the job we needed. Included in these issues was a lack of resources committed to the problem in the past. The organization was being forced by their specific organizational cancer to make the decision. Take the first pill or go out of business.
Choosing the right pill is the first step in solving the problem
At this point, I was contacted. I have heard of surgeons who have opened up patients to remove cancerous tumors. After opening up the patient, they immediately closed the patient. A quick look had told the doctor, the cancer had already spread too far. There was nothing the doctor could do. This organization was in that same situation, nothing could be done. They had waited too long. It was already over. Soon after, the organization had an asset sale which did not even cover the bank loans.
