Are you driving your high performing employees away?
As a former recruiter and people manager, I recall the times I was asked to talk a high-potential, high-performing employee into taking on extra duties as a “growth opportunity.” I remember saying something to this effect – “you take on the extra work and show them how great you are, and you might get that promotion you want.” YUCK! No wonder employees don’t trust HR. I wouldn’t either.
Honestly, I’m embarrassed to admit that I was an accomplice in that type of bait and switch. I could blame my youth, my inexperience, and my neurotic need to be a people pleaser, but honestly, I was also a victim of this rationale. I loved to work hard and get that external validation. I wanted to prove I was worthy of the promotion, the raise, and the title. I thought that’s how the game had to be played. And to be fair, it was at that time in my life and career.
Now, I believe we have the newest generation of workers to thank for drawing attention to this idea of “if I’m good enough to take on the extra work, I’m good enough for the extra compensation.” On the face of it, employers might not feel great about this confidence and logical thinking regarding development. But let me explain why this is probably a good thing for your organization.
Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new employees is expensive. Estimates range from $4700 to 2-3x the annual salary of the role ( Cost to hire).That’s just the direct financial cost. As noted in the article, there are both productivity and emotional costs that add up, too.
What does that have to do with asking your high performers to take on more work? Well, let’s consider that most great employees are willing to take on more work for short periods of time because they like their job, team, manager, or company vision. Asking that same great employee to continually sacrifice themselves because of poor leadership, ineffective processes, or bad planning is a recipe for turnover. (Miserable high performers).
What can be done differently? As a business, the goals are to maximize productivity, quality, and profits. For employees, the goals are to earn money, develop/learn, and find contentment at work. These goals are not mutually exclusive, and I would say they greatly overlap.
To maximize productivity, quality, and profits while fairly compensating, developing, and creating a great place to work for your employees:
Identify the low performers within the organization and determine how best to help them thrive. That could be additional training, a different role, or a role outside of the organization. Not every shoe fits every foot after all. I believe that when someone is underperforming, they know. They may feel too stuck or embarrassed to make a move to another role or company. You owe it to that employee and your top performers to act.
Ask employees to identify low-value, time consuming tasks and find a way to eliminate, automate, or redesign them. This is a great way to support development by engaging employees in problem identification and solution. While they might feel like this is adding more work to their plate, it should be a short-term project that leads to long term gains. Radical transparency would be beneficial in this situation – explain the goal, offer support, and reward the outcome.
Determine if you can afford a few more employees to offset the workload and prevent unnecessary turnover. An important thing to consider if you offer health care – overworked employees who start to suffer from symptoms of burnout cost a lot more in medical costs annually than adding another employee or two (Financial burden of stress).
Identify areas of future risk and create a staffing plan that accounts for fluctuations in need. Creating cross-functional “swat” teams of employees who can flex with the organization is a great way to build bench strength for succession needs, develop employees across roles, and solve problems with a diversity of input. The key to success is figuring out a compensation plan that rewards and motivates employees to remain with the company and as part of the team long term.
But what if you really need your high performers to step up because of an urgent business need and you don’t have another option?
Offer special project compensation – an upfront bonus and a completion bonus to take on extra work.
Be upfront about the length of the assignment and what you’re doing to prevent the situation from occurring again in the future.
Offer a promotion or if that’s not possible, recognition. People will work hard and do more than expected when they are thoughtfully and authentically thanked for their contributions. DO NOT dangle a promotion if there is no possibility of that happening in the short term.
Don’t have cash to spare? Extra paid time off is a great way to thank a hard worker. If that’s not an option, ask the employee how they would like to be recognized. You’d be surprised what can be learned when we stop assuming and ask questions.
Bottom line, high performers will get frustrated and leave if they feel taken for granted. You simply can’t afford to lose top performers because you failed to do the math and hold all employees accountable for the quality of their work.
Remember - the keys to any long and healthy relationship are communication, respect, and appreciation.
Need help? Let’s talk – book an appointment with me at Rebecca Ali Consulting.