Retention improves by aligning employee expectations with what the job offers
Most people go to a job with a certain set of expectations. Sometimes expectations aren’t great; a steady paycheque and regular hours may be all they want. Then there are those who expect every other Friday off, a company car, training for the executive suite, the ear of the CEO. Failure by the employer to meet these expectations can fundamentally damage the employment relationship.
One of the keys to keeping turnover low is to ensure employee job expectations are aligned with those of the employer, says Leslie McKeown, president of Deliver the Promise and author of Retaining Top Employees. There are two critical points in the employment relationship when HR should act decisively to ensure alignment happens, he says.
The first is during recruitment. Employers may be eager to convince a candidate of the upside of taking a position. But it is imperative potential employees be given a realistic picture of the job, so that they can create their own realistic expectations.
It is okay to emphasize the good aspects of joining the company, but it is equally important to give the job candidate an honest idea of what to expect.
One organization with a less than beautiful workplace always made sure to hold job interviews in luxurious hotel suites. There is no point in that, McKeown says. “Always interview them on the premises. Not as many people will take the offer but the retention rate will be much higher.” And if at all possible, have the employee meet with the person he will be working with the most, he says. Here too, some people may decide not to take the offer but at least they will have more realistic expectations about what’s in store for them.
One way to ensure recruiters don’t promise too much to the candidate is to hold them responsible for retention, says McKeown. Just because the recruiter hires someone with a pulse doesn’t mean he is doing his job. Recruiters should be hiring people who will stay with the organization.
One client of McKeown’s wants to add 200 people to the organization this year. But turnover has been so bad that to increase head count by 200 it will need to hire 700 people. That is a huge waste of money, he says. It will be far better for the organization to improve the recruitment process and spend time and effort to make sure it hires people whose expectations are in alignment with the organization.
The second invaluable, and often overlooked, opportunity for HR to ensure the employee forms realistic expectations is during orientation, says McKeown.
“It is the single best shot employers have for aligning the expectations between the employee and the employer,” he says. In most cases orientation is just a tour of the office. But if HR took the time to align employee expectations to those of the organization, it would reduce turnover considerably.
“Orientation must be a dialogue, but in most organizations it is a monologue,” he says. The person conducting orientation sits the employee down and tells him about the founder of the company. Instead, during orientation, new employees should be asked why they took the job and what they hope to get out of it.
“If the employee isn’t being asked to share what he wants to get out of the organization then you don’t stand a chance,” he says.
Once the person is part of the company, the number one complaint voiced by disappointed employees is still about the boss, says Marge Watters, of KWA partners, a national career management firm. After that, employees are often disappointed by the lack of career development opportunities. People want stretch assignments and are disappointed if they don’t get them, she says.
“You can send people off on all the course work in the world. Those are good, but cannot equal an opportunity to take on an assignment,” she says. “It is incumbent upon employers of choice to keep putting their most valued talent into assignments where they can learn new things and keep being stretched.”
Inevitably, changes to the organization mean promises made to an employee also have to change, she says. In those cases the key is to communicate openly and honestly. So long as the employee is a team player, it is likely he won’t leave for that reason alone.
“If there is a shroud of silence, or if the explanation given turns out to be fictitious, then trust starts to break down.” That is when the employee is apt to take flight.
Different employees also have different expectations at different stages of their careers, she says.
With younger workers, for example, there will be a high degree of experimentation. Many people in their first or second job don’t know what they want and therefore their expectations change.
On the other hand, someone who is 45 with 20 years’ experience is less likely to quit if the job or work environment suddenly changes. They may be reluctant to give up the security, she says. For that matter, security in a bearish job market is a big issue for more than just mature workers, she adds. “People know jobs are few and far between.”
Employers should engage employees, young and old, about their expectations.
Supervisors need to be talking with their employees to find out what is making them happy and what they want to do so that it is clear what their expectations are.
“If the boss and the employee have an open dialogue around that, and it is informal and frequent, that aid retention enormously,” she says. “I run a tiny little company and I am regularly surprised by what my employees tell me they want.”
One of the keys to keeping turnover low is to ensure employee job expectations are aligned with those of the employer, says Leslie McKeown, president of Deliver the Promise and author of Retaining Top Employees. There are two critical points in the employment relationship when HR should act decisively to ensure alignment happens, he says.
The first is during recruitment. Employers may be eager to convince a candidate of the upside of taking a position. But it is imperative potential employees be given a realistic picture of the job, so that they can create their own realistic expectations.
It is okay to emphasize the good aspects of joining the company, but it is equally important to give the job candidate an honest idea of what to expect.
One organization with a less than beautiful workplace always made sure to hold job interviews in luxurious hotel suites. There is no point in that, McKeown says. “Always interview them on the premises. Not as many people will take the offer but the retention rate will be much higher.” And if at all possible, have the employee meet with the person he will be working with the most, he says. Here too, some people may decide not to take the offer but at least they will have more realistic expectations about what’s in store for them.
One way to ensure recruiters don’t promise too much to the candidate is to hold them responsible for retention, says McKeown. Just because the recruiter hires someone with a pulse doesn’t mean he is doing his job. Recruiters should be hiring people who will stay with the organization.
One client of McKeown’s wants to add 200 people to the organization this year. But turnover has been so bad that to increase head count by 200 it will need to hire 700 people. That is a huge waste of money, he says. It will be far better for the organization to improve the recruitment process and spend time and effort to make sure it hires people whose expectations are in alignment with the organization.
The second invaluable, and often overlooked, opportunity for HR to ensure the employee forms realistic expectations is during orientation, says McKeown.
“It is the single best shot employers have for aligning the expectations between the employee and the employer,” he says. In most cases orientation is just a tour of the office. But if HR took the time to align employee expectations to those of the organization, it would reduce turnover considerably.
“Orientation must be a dialogue, but in most organizations it is a monologue,” he says. The person conducting orientation sits the employee down and tells him about the founder of the company. Instead, during orientation, new employees should be asked why they took the job and what they hope to get out of it.
“If the employee isn’t being asked to share what he wants to get out of the organization then you don’t stand a chance,” he says.
Once the person is part of the company, the number one complaint voiced by disappointed employees is still about the boss, says Marge Watters, of KWA partners, a national career management firm. After that, employees are often disappointed by the lack of career development opportunities. People want stretch assignments and are disappointed if they don’t get them, she says.
“You can send people off on all the course work in the world. Those are good, but cannot equal an opportunity to take on an assignment,” she says. “It is incumbent upon employers of choice to keep putting their most valued talent into assignments where they can learn new things and keep being stretched.”
Inevitably, changes to the organization mean promises made to an employee also have to change, she says. In those cases the key is to communicate openly and honestly. So long as the employee is a team player, it is likely he won’t leave for that reason alone.
“If there is a shroud of silence, or if the explanation given turns out to be fictitious, then trust starts to break down.” That is when the employee is apt to take flight.
Different employees also have different expectations at different stages of their careers, she says.
With younger workers, for example, there will be a high degree of experimentation. Many people in their first or second job don’t know what they want and therefore their expectations change.
On the other hand, someone who is 45 with 20 years’ experience is less likely to quit if the job or work environment suddenly changes. They may be reluctant to give up the security, she says. For that matter, security in a bearish job market is a big issue for more than just mature workers, she adds. “People know jobs are few and far between.”
Employers should engage employees, young and old, about their expectations.
Supervisors need to be talking with their employees to find out what is making them happy and what they want to do so that it is clear what their expectations are.
“If the boss and the employee have an open dialogue around that, and it is informal and frequent, that aid retention enormously,” she says. “I run a tiny little company and I am regularly surprised by what my employees tell me they want.”
