Human Resources departments work hard to fulfil employment needs with best possible candidates and ensure that company rules are abided. In charge of day to day HR management tasks, they apply regulations and laws with regard to the Labour Code. What they should also be concerned with is looking out for the company on its promises when hiring, thus avoiding business costs related to a high employment turnover and low personnel morale. After all, the HR department is the one that makes those promises.
Last month we started working with this great company, a multinational services corporation, employed by Fortune 500 companies to deal with everything from pre-sales to after-sales, info-services, call centres and beyond. Knowing about the company for many years, not in the least as one of the most important hiring company in Romania, when meeting the CEO for the first time, I thought to myself “now here’s a company that looks good”, with a man that cares so much about HIS people, what could ever be wrong? Well, the reasons I was invited to that meeting was quite the “wrong” part of the equation. The CEO complained about the outrageously high employee turnover. He had literary thousands of people coming in and leaving the company each month. After two weeks of thorough auditing, internal interviews and analysis, we gave a full report on cause, effect and of course solution for this business consuming problem. Read on to find when and where these problems appear within your company, and how to avoid them from the start.
Of corse you want teams of motivated employees, strengthened by a solid corporate culture, and while you’re doing your best as an executive and everything looks good on paper, turnover starts to rise and people get demotivated quickly. What’s to be done? Where’s the problem?
You should start looking exactly at the centre of it all: The Human Resources Department. What are the practices used during the interviewing process? What are the promises that your HR “scouts” are making when trying to enrol new “prospects”, and are they realistic? And if they are, who should be responsible for making sure those corporate promises are kept?
As I’ve told you at the beginning of this article, HR people try to “sell” really good candidates on every position. In doing so, they usually pitch on the candidates with great things about being part of the company and how fulfilling is the role they’re trying to fill. And while this is common practice, and nothing seems wrong, the problem is when HR starts making promises on your behalf, many of which you can’t keep for any number of reasons.
And when this happens, employees rightly feel disillusioned, or even betrayed by the company they have pledged to work for and dedicate at least a third of their life (considering the least 40 hours a week). Here are some common HR lies that you should look into:
- “Your starting net monthly salary is 900 lei, but in three months time you’ll be paid 1200 lei.” The employee will get a slight rise, maybe after 6-9 moths, after he/she complained to higher up “the food chain”
- “Your hours are flexible.” The employee is expected to work full-time.
- “Overtime is optional or payed.” Not a moth goes by, and the employee is demanded mandatory overtime.
- “You’ll get our answer by the end of the week.” The employee gets the job decision in 2 months.
- “Great promoting opportunity.” While in reality employees watch as outsiders are brought in to become new managers.
- “You’ll get professional training all the way throughout your carrier at our company.” Managers through a book on employees’ desks and expect them to swim or sink.
It is true that while companies that keep their promises, don’t get extra appreciation for it, those who don’t, get all the unwanted attention and employees notice them, get demoralised, cynical and bitter.
As an executive you get so consumed and concentrated on costumer/client satisfaction and business retention, that you tend to overlook the fact that your employees are the drive of those concern. You can’t have booming business, with imploding personnel. While the HR department is there to keep you “warm and safe” make sure they don’t end up being the Achilles’ Heel of your business.
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