Smelling Bad Managers Let me state upfront that I literally “hate” bad managers. I know that hate is a strong word but I do detest their egos, arrogance and the “silos” they create, but most of all, I detest the damage they do to hard working employees that deserve better. …

Same situation but different results – An example Let’s start with a basketball analogy. First compare two teams that play in the same league and the same city, the L.A. Lakers and the L.A. Clippers.  If you compare the two teams you will find that both are exactly the same …

When the economy turns around next year, retention will almost instantly go from being a non-issue to a major issue. But because most HR departments currently miss the boat when it comes to measuring and reporting turnover, they are likely to compound the increased turnover problem by underreporting turnover and …

During tough economic times, it’s easy to retain workers. Even the top performers are focusing on maintaining their job security, so they aren’t going anywhere. In fact, no one is leaving or even looking. But it’s also easy to get lackadaisical about turnover, because traditionally the topic only comes up …

If you’ve watched an hour of business news on television or picked up a business magazine lately, the mix of good and not-so-good economic news probably puzzled you. It’s been a real roller coaster lately, and no one can predict when exactly our economy might exit its current slump. Some …

If your company has a turnover of 20% per year and all of your new hires are mediocre, it will only take 5 years for all of your entire workforce to be mediocre. The cost of a “bad hire” for a software engineer can exceed a million dollars, for a …

It’s relatively easy and cheap to solve most retention problems. Most workers really don’t leave for money. Managers like to hear that “it’s the money” because that shifts the “blame” for losing employees away from managers to the compensation department! Employees often do say, “it’s the money” because that preserves …

1/3 of salary is way too low for critical jobs. A bad "hire" can cost you millions if they lose a great customer or make bad decisions. The Quaker CEO cost them 1.4 BILLION on the sale of Snapple alone. Now that's a bad hire! (Ask any sports team what is the cost of a bad 1st round draft pick that leads the team to a losing season and then must be let go in a year or two!)

Chances are if you only include these limiting factors (e.g. recruiting time, HR's time to review resumes, training, benefits, etc.) you will underestimate turnover costs dramatically!

Alert: Employees are quitting their jobs at the highest rate in a decade. But few public-sector managers realize that a majority of employee turnover is both predictable and preventable. Today the overall U.S. monthly “quit rate” is the equivalent of a 30 percent turnover rate over one year. And, even …