The Art of Thinking Clearly, Essay Example

As the rate of turnover increases throughout the corporate world, attention is being paid to employee retention. The cost of turnover for employers is high which usually causes several businesses to shed a distinct amount of expense as the company is left with the need to fill a gap in employment that costs the company time as well as the investment on training newcomers in the business (Cascio, 2014, p. 121).  Money is not, however, the main solution (or problem) in employee retention, as Kashyap &Rangnekar (2014) state, “Targeted effective recruitment and working environment that satisfies both intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the employees help improve employee retention” (p. 110). Most employees will stay within a job because 1) they like the work 2) they like the people 3) and it satisfies their financial solvency.

For the first reason,Dobelli (2013) states that people function well in their “circle of competence” (p. 306). Dobelli suggests that the “circle of competence” is something wherein intuition, satisfying human psychological need, and fulfillment are being met. Dobelli compares this circle with that of a musician wherein the musician spends time memorizing and knowing musical instruments and notes in side out and this in turn translates into their work as competent professionals. In the Human Resource world this is showcased in employees with high retention rates and high rates of job satisfaction. Retention may be secured through a functioning working environment in which employees get along; this environment may sometimes lead to a person staying with a job that doesn’t satisfy the other two needs or it may lead to a person leaving a job because this need is not being satisfied to a great capacity. To this Dobelli adds: the cognitive biases in the way humans think affect the overall decision making and considerations of arguments that people engage with, including that of the case of deciding whether to retrench people or not for the sake of saving a business or expanding options of growth for the organization (2013).

In studying employee retention, it becomes clear that a multifaceted approach to this subject is needed. In order to maintain employee retention, there must be focus on the employer: this includes organizational strategies in regards to recruitment, training (quality of training, and pay of training), as well as the normal elements including education, job fit, and personal satisfaction with not only the job, the role, but also the goals of the company (Kashyap &Rangnekar, 2014, p. 111). Other areas to include in employee retention are how management supports employees, reward system infrastructure, incentive programs and health benefits (Vasquez, 2014, p. 1).

The primary focus of employee retention is pay grade. Compensation is most often than not a top tier for managers in the following areas “deferred compensation, stock options, and retirement plans” (Kashyap &Rangnekar, 2014, p. 111). Dobelli states that masters of business don’t go on to solve business problems but rather to avoid them (p. 300). The litany above lists several components of a job in which the function of the employee becomes a lifestyle need: employees need stock options, retirement plans, and a semblance of compensation. Without these things a job becomes less attractive and when a job becomes less attractive retention rates go down. Creating job opportunities on the part of the administrators, is a complex task that requires one to become more concerned in the way he responds to the needs of both the organization and the satisfactory points that the employees themselves give attention to. The focus of Human Resource should be to avoid problems as much as possible. This may be presented in the notion of what not to do, as Dobelli highlights,

Let’s be honest.  We don’t know for sure what makes us successful.  We can’t pinpoint exactly what makes us happy. But we know with certainty what destroys success or happiness. That realization, as simple as it is, is fundamental: Negative knowledge (what not to do) is much more potent than positive knowledge (what to do). Thinking more clearly and acting more shrewdly means adopting Michelangelo’s method: Don’t focus on David. Instead, focus on everything that is not David and chisel it away.  In our case: Eliminate all errors and better thinking will follow (p. 299).

Human Resource should be focusing just as much attention on what not to do as finding solutions as to what to do in problematic situations or in exploring ways to improve the company through the scope of employee retention. Through this approach, the organization would be able to thrive along with its employees while still being fully focused on the organization goals of the business.

Second tier for employee retention includes variables such as quality of life during employment (this focuses on personal goals/purpose, family concerns, and paid holiday leave). When an employee is taking a job, or leaving a job, these variables are their keystone to making a decision. Within this tier, intrinsic rewards become important as personal commitment to the company becomes a factor in employee retention. There is in fact a “retention factor measurement scale (RFMS)” (Kashyap &Rangnekar, 2014, p. 111) wherein “compensation, training, worklife [sic] policies [sic], job characteristics, supervisor, support, and career opportunities” (p. 111) measure the success or failure of employee retention. In short, the way an employee envisions the actual worth of his work for him affects his decision to stay in the business or to run away from it, thus imposing the fact that what abstract values the workers get from the organization play a great role on how well they see the actual worth of the employment for themselves as individual partakers of the beneficial factors that make up the overall context of the organization’s existence in the market.

Third tier factors in employee retention involve stats from the human resources department. HR policies, practices, compensation (again), training and development, ability to move up the ladder at the company, characteristics about the job (such as quality and recruitment strategies (i.e. school credit, car, stock options) make “it difficult for [employees] to leave the organization” (p. 111). In regards to employee retention, employees will focus on HR’s productivity in keeping employees through these variables, and the employee’s perception of the company with turnover intentions directly reflects employee retention.  Most of this can be ascertained through an entrance interview conducted by Human Resources. An entrance interview consists of how well the individual and the company fit. In an entrance interview Human Resource represents the company in what the company needs, expects, and offers. The employee, once presented with this information, can decide how their needs, expectations and what they have to offer, fits with these expectations. The element that is most essential in this dynamic is honesty. If both parties are honest in these variables/expectations then a more satisfying relationship may ensue; if either party is not being honest during the entrance interview then failure lies in the future. In an exit interview a lot of viable information may be attained; this information can be why the employee is leaving. If Human Resources can figure out why the employee is leaving then Human Resource can cut cost in loss of retention which in turn will benefit the company. Dobelli writes about survivorship bias in which people only see or hear about success stories because these are the stories that garner more attention because of approval ratings (everyone wants to hear about the poor kid who made it big, or focus on the fact that Steve Jobs never graduated high school and became a huge business mogul—and no one wants to hear about how someone who went to college has a well-paying job and is living comfortably. These stories do not make the best-seller list. The market is flush with such stories and in turn the audience is given a false-sense of reality or “probability of success” (p. 6). Dobelli is stating that every success story has multiple failure stories to go along with it and that such immersion in only positive stories should be taken with a grain of salt. This means that Human Resource should have high expectations of candidates and employees but should temper that enthusiasm with reality. This reality-based thinking is advocated by Dobelli so that employees can become satisfied with their situation instead of thinking too big and failing through desiring something that is simply very improbable. Human Resource is there to be an even keel in such instances. This is not to say that innovation is not a key to good employment; on the one hand, Dobelli states that everyone is seeking a universal truth (despite philosophers having sought such a thing for thousands of years, it is still unattainable).

The best that business can suggest to a person is that one should always “remain an apprentice of life; seeking first getting, then doing and ultimately being…we all need to constantly look for those times that we failed to doand focus on working to do better” (p. 310). Dobelli goes on to state that the goal of anyone should be to do better and in turn the environment in which a person lives and works, and the people they’re around to influence through such an attitude, will improve. The work place is a place in which possibilities should be fostered, and realized.

Human Resource should first highlighttheir needs for a career and from an organization (pay, benefits, stock options, career vs. personal life, etc.) and contrast it with their job posting. An employee will choose an organization whose HR bullet points match their own skill set and needs in the various capacities highlighted above.A symbiotic relationship in which both party’s needs is the best relationship in a company/work environment is then expected to be formed, thus making a definite turn on how to create a sense of balance and beneficial relationship between the administrators and the employees alike.

References

Cascio, W. F. (2014). Leveraging employee branding, performance management and human resource development to enhance employee retention. Human Resources Development International, 17(2), 121-128.

Dobelli, R. (2013). The Art of Thinking Clearly. New York:  HarperCollins.

Kashyap, V. &Rangnekar, S. (2014). The moderating role of servant leadership: investigating the relationships among employer brand perception and perceived employee retention. Social Science Research Network Vol. 3, pp. 105-118.

Shilpi, G., & Prachi, S. (2014). A study in turnover and employee retention: a closer review. Indian Journals, 5(2), pp. 221-226.

Vasquez, D. (2014). Employee retention for economic stabilization: a qualitative phenomenological study in the hospitality sector. International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, 3(1), pp. 1-17.