Employee Turnover
June 18, 2007
Several of the nonprofits in which I'm involved have been going through some tough times, and one of the natural outcomes is employee turnover. At one, a longtime employee, who represents the heart and soul of one of the programs, decided it was time to leave after a series of management miscues that made her job not very fun. So she left and started her own business doing the same thing but under her own domain. So perhaps we can say this nonprofit inspires entrepreneurism, but we know better.
At another, smaller nonprofit, one of the employees is leaving because of disagreements and negative interactions with management (I'm deliberately keeping it vague). This is after less than a year of part-time work, and she was a valued contributor.
Employee turnover is costly. Sometimes it's appropriate; an employee or Director is the wrong person for the job, and it only makes sense to recognize that and help them find a more suitable career. In fact, I believe in those cases all pretense should be dropped and the move made as soon as it's clear it's not working--make it surgical, as my Dad used to say (a doc, of course). The drag on an organization by a poor performer or inappropriate hire is likely greater than the hole left by their absence.
But when good people leave the organization, it is substantially more painful all around, and can often be an indictment of management, policies, behaviors, etc. This is when everyone questions leadership, and rightfully so. What's not working? How can we do better? What does the former employee think? What does she think we could do better and correct? What advice can she give us?
Replacing good employees is expensive and tough. The process can take many months, and in the meantime, you have holes to fill. So my advice? Hold on to great employees. Listen. If they must leave, ask them to recruit their replacement. But the question remains: what are the underlying problems that led to the departure, and can you address them?
