Here’s probably the easiest place to begin on the concept of employee turnover: most people who run companies (i.e. decision-makers) don’t really give much of a crap about it. How do we know this? The idea of employee turnover and its corresponding metrics are owned by HR. Let me give this to you pretty straight: most senior decision-makers think of HR as compliance and not much else. It’s definitely not a revenue arm for them, and they don’t view the CHRO as “having a seat at the table.” In short? HR is a joke to the execs. So anything “owned” by that department is probably 90 percent lip service and 10 percent “OK, we’ll revisit this idea once a year.”
That’s the first issue.
The second issue is that most guys (predominantly men, but not always) who run companies grew into their role with a specific set of ideas. Typically, these ideas are around processes, products, services, margins, revenues, and financials. All this stuff about people? Engagement? Purpose? Mission? Most of that has only come to the fore within the last 20 years, if that. No chest-pounding workaholic who loves to bellow about his margins would ever really give two craps about people. This is where employee turnover begins to run into some issues, as well.
By the way, is it possible for a standard guy to talk about the financial aspects of their job and…
