Friday, January 22
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
Blog | Payroll | Tax | Compliance Services | Relativity Compliance Services
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Digital Form-16
    • Payroll
    • Statutory Compliance
    • Tax Compliances
    • TDS
  • About
  • Contact
user avatar
sign in sign up
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Lost password Register Login

Employee Separation goes bad & You didn’t see it coming | HR Hates this # 3

Akash VM Akash VM
August 1, 2020
Reading Time: 4 minutes
376 views
Reading Time: 4 minutes

We all know that separation, whether voluntary or involuntary, cannot be eliminated but can certainly be minimized to a significant extent. It is quite established in today’s “Knowledge Economy” that employees have a significant impact on company profits and it is vital not only to retain employees but to also ensure productivity, work-life balance, happiness and a sense of purpose among them.

In this article, we are going to talk about “Ghost Employees” or absconding employees, as commonly referred to. For any HR professional, the worst thing to happen is to show up at work and get an email or receive a phone call from one of the managers saying there’s an absconding employee! That, for an HR, is bad blood on their hands and while no-one wants it, the more important question is what are we doing about it?

In the never-ending list of items an HR professional has to do, this needs to have a significant place too & all the more important if the organization is a small & medium one.

There are 2 types of Employee Separations:

  • Voluntary (Resignation, Retirement)
  • In-Voluntary (VRS, Layoffs, Dismissal, Terminations, etc)

In this article of HR Hates this Series, we’ll focus on only the absconding separations & what we can do about them.

What happens when an employee absconds:

When an employee ghosts or absconds the organization, it not only brings difficulty to the HR professionals but everyone around such an employee gets affected.

  • The hiring manager is affected because he hired the said employee
  • The supervisor is frustrated not only because his ego takes a hit but also because the team is low morale and now others have to share the work burden, leading to stress
  • The organization’s reputation is impacted too, in the eyes of the clients & other co-workers
  • Also serves as a bad example for other people on tipping line

There’s also a significant impact on the HR Professionals or HR Team of the organization because now they will have

  • Significant pressure to hire/find a replacement quickly
  • Compromise on the new hire quality due to cramped timelines
  • Efforts to be spent to co-ordinate legal/termination action

So, the question is how can this be addressed?

There are 2 parts in such scenarios, both aim to address proactively to reduce absconding cases but the difference is that they are applicable in different scenarios.

Part 1 – Proactive Identification

Part 2 – Empathy

Part 1 – Proactive Identification

Proactive Identification aims to assess pre-quitting behaviours and open communication channels to effectively address such employees. The objective, as the name goes, is to identify the smoke and contain it before it becomes a fire.

Timothy M Gardner and Peter W Hom in 2016 undertook detailed research on this subject, assessed several thousand employees with hundreds of organizations over a 2 year period and concluded that the below 13 behaviours signalled are commonly exhibited by people who are evaluating a voluntary separation. They are as below:

Pre-Quitting Behaviours:

  1. Their work productivity has decreased more than usual.
  2. They have acted less like a team player than usual.
  3. They have been doing the lower amount of work more frequently than usual.
  4. They have been less interested in interacting with their manager than usual.
  5. They have been less willing to commit to long-term timelines than usual.
  6. They have exhibited a negative change in attitude.
  7. They have exhibited less effort and work motivation than usual.
  8. They have exhibited less focus on job-related matters than usual.
  9. They have expressed dissatisfaction with their current job more frequently than usual.
  10. They have expressed dissatisfaction with their supervisor more frequently than usual.
  11. They have left early from work more frequently than usual.
  12. They have lost enthusiasm for the mission of the organization.
  13. They have shown less interest in working with customers than usual.

All the above have 1 underlying lever viz. In comparison to a previous time. Also, it is important to understand that not all who exhibit such behaviours are likely to quit but their research has proved that most or majority of those who quit, exhibited the above behaviours – One, a few or all of them.

We have identified, what next? is common that pops up. Well, identification alone is not going to help.

Open Communication Channels:

We need to open communication channels with such employees. Talk to them, engage and try to find out if they are willing to speak their concerns out. Maybe there has been a life-changing event, or he/she feels disconnected with his new manager or believes something wrong is happening, hence distanced himself, etc.

“Opening up communication channels provides an opportunity for the organization to address the situation and delay if not prevent the separation”

There are 2 distinct things to do:

  1. Have approachable HR Team members
  2. Encourage Proactive Interaction beyond their immediate supervisors

Part 2 – Empathy

Sometimes how hard we try, we cannot prevent the separation. In this case, it is essential that supervisors, HR professionals& the employee, to not burn the bridges, ruin relationships and take separation personally. Afterall someone did say that ex-employees can be our best brand ambassadors.

It is necessary for the Supervisor and HR professionals to act with Empathy and be understanding of the employee’s concerns/situation at the same time not causing too much of organizational challenges. After all, no one wants a disgruntled employee around. Making him stay for more time than “just necessary” can cause more harm than good. A significant drop in performance, bad attitude, careless work output can be a few.

Some scenarios where Empathy could benefit everyone:

  • Negotiate the notice period if the employee is convinced that the next opportunity is compelling for him/her
  • Engage the employee for limited hours to assist in transitioning to a new resource, if the notice period is not sufficient
  • Consider extended leave without pay in case the employee wants to quit to care for a sudden ailing family member

The point is to Be & Remain Human. Every employee’s situation is different and while there are policies and procedures, we need to understand that we are dealing with humans and not machines & Empathy will go a long way not only now but, in the future, too.

We hope it would have gained you some interesting insights. Watch the original video here!! Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for future updates.

 

 

About the Author:

Akash Mahagaonkar is the Director at Relativity Management Solutions India Pvt Ltd and is a Business & behavioural finance specialist. He has over 12 years of management experience and serves as an advisor, mentor to a handful of Indian businesses some of which are startups too. You can connect with Akash via LinkedIn.

 

Credits :

http://thecontextofthings.com/2016/11/20/hawthorne-effect/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001979399104400304?journalCode=ilra

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2524155?seq=1

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206316665462

https://hbr.org/2016/10/13-signs-that-someone-is-about-to-quit-according-to-research

https://hbr.org/2019/07/do-you-really-know-why-employees-leave-your-company

https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/ibm-says-it-now-has-a-patent-on-a-secret-method-to-predict-when-employees-will-quit-its-95-percent-accurate-is-this-brilliant-or-terrifying.html

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Categories: HR Managers HR Professionals Human Resources
Tags: Bad Employee Employee abscond Employee Engagement Employee Separation Ghost Employee Toxic Employee
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=606]

One comment

  1. Avatar
    Mira

    Employee separation system is a must have for enterprises today for a streamlined process. New age HR software like Digital HRMS, Bamboo HRMS and Wallet HRMS are what the enterprises need today.

    December 29, 2020 - 2:38 pm Reply

Leave a reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

The 16 Weeks Challenge – Simple & Effective

January 8, 2021

Top 4 Skills for HR’s in 2020

October 5, 2020

8 Tools HR Professionals Must Have For Success

October 1, 2020

Major Labour Law Reforms in India – Code on Social Security, 2019

September 11, 2020

Webinar on KEY Changes in Payroll/Compensation 20-21

August 28, 2020
Prevention of Sexual Harrassment at workplace

7 things wrong about Sexual Harassment at Workplace | HR Hates this # 4

August 16, 2020
Related Posts

The 16 Weeks Challenge – Simple & Effective

January 8, 2021

Top 4 Skills for HR’s in 2020

October 5, 2020

8 Tools HR Professionals Must Have For Success

October 1, 2020

Major Labour Law Reforms in India – Code on Social Security, 2019

September 11, 2020

Webinar on KEY Changes in Payroll/Compensation 20-21

August 28, 2020
Prevention of Sexual Harrassment at workplace

7 things wrong about Sexual Harassment at Workplace | HR Hates this # 4

August 16, 2020
Recent Posts
  • The 16 Weeks Challenge – Simple & Effective
  • Webinar on Overview of New Labour Codes and Impact on your Business
  • Changes in EPFO – Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY)
  • Changes in Leave Travel Allowance/Concession
Categories
  • Accounting
  • Digital Form-16
  • Direct Tax
  • Employee Engagement
  • Entrepreneur
  • Finance
  • HR Managers
  • HR Professionals
  • Human Resources
  • Payroll
  • Provident Fund
  • Statutory Compliance
  • Tax Compliances
  • TDS
  • Uncategorized
Archives
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • October 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • June 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
Copyright 2018 © Relativity Management Solutions (I) Pvt Limited | All Rights Reserved.
  • Digital Form-16
  • Payroll
  • Statutory Compliance
  • Tax Compliances
  • TDS