BOSSES can spare themselves the hassle of exit interviews and keep their staff, if they can spot tell-tale signs of an unhappy employee early - and prevent his resignation.
And bosses can pre-empt problems if they take the trouble to do regular 'stay' interviews with employees to find out more about them and how they are doing, according to Joyce Gioia, a well-known American management consultant and award-winning author.
'Companies need to ask themselves, what keeps their workers in the job? What do they enjoy or dislike? What motivates them each day? At the end of it all, everyone junior or senior wants to feel like they are contributing to the organisation and doing their share of meaningful work,' said Ms Gioia in an interview with BT.
Ms Gioia, 62, was in Singapore recently to give a talk as part of the inaugural HR Professionals Executive Briefings event, organised by LCI Executive Seminars. She is CEO of The Herman Group, a firm of strategic business futurists based in North Carolina. She rose to fame 34 years ago in 1974 when, at the age of just 28, she became the youngest magazine publisher in the United States.
'Stay' interviews are quite different from the typical appraisal sessions done every year, and can be conducted at any time of the year by bosses to help them learn more about their employees, said Ms Gioia.
These are also called 're-recruitment interviews', she said. 'We encourage employers to frequently re-recruit their employees by learning what they like, what they want, what's missing, and what changes need to be made to boost employee satisfaction.'
She said that to build longer-term employee retention, companies must make the effort to keep regular communication channels with staff open, so that management can make adjustments where necessary.
As part of her advice to employers when doing 'stay' interviews, Ms Gioia said: 'Listen carefully to what (your employees) say. Take notes to document what you learn. Meet with your colleagues to analyse what you have discovered, then assess the potential impact on other valued employees. Do you need to take any immediate steps to keep others from leaving?'
She added: 'I'm pretty sure bosses all don't want to be in a situation where they say, 'Oops, what's it going to cost me now to replace that person who just walked out the door?' It's definitely easier to retain than going out to find new talent, especially in this uncertain economic period.'
This article was first published in The Business Times on December 22, 2008.
