With the Push of a Button
I came across two articles this weekend which made me think about our upcoming labor shortage and how that is driving companies to ensure they are a place where people want to work. There was an article in the Weekend Edition of the WSJ titled, “Thinking of Quitting? The Boss Knows“. The article addresses the issue of employers needing to find ways to stay one step ahead of employees heading out the door.
Apparently, some of the larger corporate employers are gathering data on a regular basis to identify flight risks. Some of the factors they are analyzing are “job tenure, geography, performance reviews, employee’s surveys, communication patterns and even personality tests.” Gathering this data helps them to understand who will stay and who may be looking to escape. This information can be used to either better the work environment or to prepare for the potential vacancy should some leave. I think they are both pretty 2015 savvy.
How are they doing this? The article mentions Ultimate Software Group Inc. which actually sells a software that provides an employee’s “retention predictor” score to “indicate the likelihood that a worker will leave”.
Employers want to keep their current employees because they have realized the cost of replacing them. Finally, they are looking for ways to make them want to stay. This is all good news because some places, and I have worked at a few, are just crappy places to work. As the owner of a recruiting company, I am constantly faced with searching for good places for candidates to work because it doesn’t feel very fulfilling to place them and then find out that it is a horrible place to spend 40 plus hours a week.
The same day I read the article in the WSJ, I stumbled across the company Celpax which sells a tool that you put next to the employee exit door(s) to gauge employee happiness. This gives the HR team information on the overall attitude of every employee. If they are willing to ask…I am guessing that means they are willing to do something about it when scores aren’t in the “green”.
I have included Celpax’s website address at the bottom of this post. They will even send you the device to try for free, according to their website. I considered it but as some of you know, my only employee is my 22 year old daughter and most of the time I can gauge her happiness level WITHOUT a button.
Last summer, I wrote about unusual employee perks (Perks in today’s day and age). I then wrote WHY would I want to work for you?, challenging companies to ensure they offer a good place to work and more importantly that they sell that “good place” to the candidates during the interview process. Obviously, this is a theme for me. I want people to go to work at good companies and I want them to be happy enough to stay.
So, think about it today when you leave the office. Would you push green or red as you walk out the door? Would your company care enough to ask?
If you have a company, are you prepared to ask each worker how their day was at work?
Picture from Celpax.com