Job-Hopping – Is Your Organization Prepared?

Job-Hopping – Is Your Organization Prepared?

 
Is it possible for an employee to stick to one organization for his/her entire career? You may probably come across a handful of such people at the most. Employees inevitably move on to another job in search for better professional opportunities or due to personal reasons. No matter how much an organization strives to hire right and engage employees, it cannot escape turnover. On an average, employees who are well engaged stay in their jobs for four to five years. But there are others, especially the young tech-savvy millennial generation, who do not mind hopping to new jobs in less than three years.   
 
Most organizations are left high and dry when an older employee tenders his resignation. Older employees develop a strong foothold in their position through years of experience in an organization. When these employees leave, organizations struggle to not only fill in their positions but also the knowledge gaps that arise due to their exit. Also, the remaining employees have to take up extra work to cover for the departing employee. This leads to stress and thereby a lower morale at the workplace. 
 
Employee turnover can disrupt the smooth functioning of operations. But it is possible to reduce the impact of attrition if organizations are prepared with back-up plans. Firstly, management should carefully draw the terms of notice period for different positions in the organization. There should be enough time for the departing employee to handover his current projects, and for the organization to find a replacement for the exiting employee. Sometimes internal transfers are the cheapest and quickest way to replace an outgoing employee. So, organizations should have internal transfer policies in place. 
 
In most organizations, a few employees possess the expertise to perform certain business functions. Resultantly, organizations are left in a lurch when one of these employees quits. The golden rule to follow here is to make cross-training an integral part of business process. Organizations should schedule training sessions where expert employees can share their knowledge with their colleagues. Also, knowledge on all projects should be well documented and accessible to others. This will smoothen the transition process and help other employees to quickly pick-up responsibilities of the departing employee. 
 
Organizations should not ignore administrative tasks that are important for security reasons.  If the organization deals with confidential information for clients, there should be a process to disable the exiting employee’s access to emails and other business applications. It is also important to ensure that the employee returns all company-issued devices like laptops, cell phones, etc. 
 
The HR department should make it mandatory to conduct an exit interview with the departing employee. Such interviews can provide relevant insights that can help to improve workplace environment. Also, it is about ending a relationship on a ‘sweet note’ because the world is small and no one knows how and where the organization and employee can cross paths again.
 
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