Masonry Magazine June 1998 Page. 25
Think this a lot of tempest in a teapot? Well, consider this:
Turnover disrupts continuity in the field. When field workers familiar with a project are replaced by new-hires, the learning curve entirely anew. Old communications and directions are repeated often in the name of expediency, efficiency, and productivity. On the proverbial "slippery-slope" this reduction in quality leads not only to loss profit for the contractor, but also jeopardizes future work once word gets out to future clients that your crews are "suspect" (and word does get around!).
Let's face it. Most of us aren't MicroSoft. We have maybe 2 to 4 major competitors in our locale and when we lose an employee, he or she often just walks out our door and through the door of one of these competitors. Company secrets or strategies (if you even had any) are out the door with the employee and company weaknesses are easily exposed for competitors to exploit.
This would be bad enough, but unfortunately, when working with human beings, there's often personal animosity between the departing employee and the old company, so besides secrets, bad things may be said. Rumors and innuendo make the bad things bigger and more credible and eventually, these fables find their way to the ears of prospective customers - and voila, negative impact on your company.
Customers become comfortable working with one particular person from your company especially if the projects are spread out over long periods. When one of these people leave the company, the owner can feel abandoned, disillusioned, and dissatisfied that he has to start all over with a new contact.
With disruptions in staff due to turnover, an employer may be apt to "pull his horns in" regarding aggressively going after future work. Concerns over insufficient staffing or productivity are major considerations when deciding what and how much future work should be pursued.
Do we even need to get into the amount of office time, energy, and advertising that commonly goes into soliciting/deciphering resumes, scheduling interviews, and the subsequent training of the new-hire?
A Course of Action
Now, of course there are always going to be some "pass-through" employees like students who only want a job for a short period of time. And then, of course, you have that small group of people who just shouldn't be in the industry in the first place to which turnover is a blessing to all. But for those people worth keeping, here are a few morale-building techniques you can try:
Acknowledge that employees have a life outside the office. Don't make unreasonable demands on Continued on next page
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MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1998 25