blogging4jobs

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The Pink Panty Retention Strategy Posted: 18 May 2011 05:17 AM PDT Is your organization firing or letting employees go like it’s out of style?  Are employees being walked out the door more often than you change your own underwear?  If so, you’ve entered the pink panty retention strategy zone. First off, let’s hope that you change your underwear on a regular basis say seven times or more a week.  You do, great. I’m relieved.  And if you’re department or region has employees dropping like flies, voluntarily or involuntarily, you’re a pink panty retention strategy wearing member. Why Pink?  Well, maybe it’s my favorite color or maybe it’s just for alliteration.  After all, I am a writer and doesn’t the title just roll off your tongue?  Or maybe it’s because your managers won’t man up, woman up, and face the fact that this retention strategy is their responsibility.  It’s likely that HR is not the root of the problem. In my last corporate gig, I worked as an HR Director for a sales division working with both inside and outside sales groups.  Everyone except for support staff was tied to monthly and quarterly quotas.  And because of this it was easy to make the call when someone wasn’t cutting the mustard and meeting their quota expectations.  It was easy on the surface.  Except that it wasn’t. At the end of every sales quarter, managers would make the move for termination normally a couple days before quarter’s end.  Voluntarily turnover would also increase during this time since most people who were on performance improvement plans didn’t like to be canned.  Working in a sales focused environment is relatively black and white, but if you’re region’s not making sales numbers, it’s not exactly a very cheerful place. I began tracking terminations and evaluating the percentage of turnover directly to front line managers, sales directors, and even regional directors.  I didn’t like the aloofness from my managers and the lack of accountability or responsibility when it came to their team member’s termination.  While my team was responsible for the recruiting and candidate selection process, I didn’t have the final say in which candidates received job offers.  While my team was also responsible for new hire and onboarding, we weren’t directly involved in the employee training beyond employee manuals, sexual harassment, and the onboarding and training evaluation that we conducted for each and every new hire. These managers were directly responsible for their employee turnover and retention and yet they were not measured or held accountable for these metrics.  While as a HR organizational leader, I, in fact was.  It didn’t make sense. And so I number crunched, evaluated turnover metrics by manager, and presented my findings.  Immediately, I was met with resistance because no regional sales manager likes to hear that their star player had an 75% turnover ratio.  Every quarter, I continued to present my findings.  And every quarter these card carrying members of the pink panty retention resistance party (aka the pink panty retention strategy zone members), continued to pass the buck. While I’d like to paint a pretty picture for you, I can’t.  Things didn’t change the way I hoped.  While I did effect turnover by nearly 25% through some employee surveys and other employee engagement programs, it really didn’t matter.  Because as an HR professional, I am not directly responsible for and managing these teams.  The failure lay in my organization and that it was not set up to ensure my employees were set up for success.  HR wasn’t set up for success either.  The failure was that my managers were not held accountable and their bonuses were tied only to their performance quotas and not their team’s turnover and retention data. If you liked this post, then you might enjoy The Candidate Anti-Engagement Strategy. Photo Credit Big Cartel.

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