At my
company, year after year we score high in our employee satisfaction surveys.
Yet, despite these results, we still see a sizeable chunk of annual staff
turnover.
This has
always bothered me. If people love the company, why are they leaving? In part,
it’s simply a sign of the times. Millennials change jobs more frequently: an
average of once every 2.5 years during the first decade out of
college. That’s double the rate of their Gen X predecessors.
But I wanted
to better understand the actual reasons why this happens. So over the past
year, we spoke to a range of employees in an effort to find out. In doing so, I
realized it wasn’t about compensation (or, at least, just about compensation). Nor was it problems with
bosses or coworkers. Many people were leaving because they wanted to try
something new. They wanted to be challenged with a different role and different
set of responsibilities.
We were
losing A players, in other words, because they were bored. Personal development
is far more than just a buzzword to Millennials. In fact, 65% of Millennials
say that personal development is the
most important factor on the job, according to a
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School study. And this doesn’t mean just leveling up an existing skill set. It means being able to explore and
internalize different skills entirely: to learn something new.
I can
relate. As a career entrepreneur, I know the allure of moving from one venture
to another, gaining new knowledge with each pivot. But that same dynamic
doesn’t always work within a company,
where people are hired for discrete roles and expected to excel within clear
boundaries. If one of our developers decides he or she is bored with coding and
wants to pursue a love of blogging for a living instead, for example, that
person probably needs to find a new place to work.
Or maybe
not.
A lesson
from Google’s bungee program
The more I
thought about this, the more I realized a pretty universal hiring truth. Great
employees are great employees. It’s not the particular skill set that sets them
apart, as much as their intrinsic attitude, focus and dedication. And all of
these things can transfer readily from role to role. So why not give these
exceptional employees a chance to try out new positions within the company, rather than risk losing them
altogether?
Luckily, I
had Google to turn to for some inspiration. For some time, Google has operated
a unique “bungee program,” which empowers employees to plunge into an entirely
different department for a brief period. After learning about the program from
my HR team, I wondered if we could flesh out a more robust version of this—with
clear rules and guidelines—in our own company.
The goal was
straightforward: to keep good employees in the company. The mechanics proved a
bit tricky, though. Which employees would be eligible? What about the hole left
when they leave their current roles? How do we ensure that real learning is
going on and this isn’t just a waste of everyone’s time?
We
ultimately settled on some ground rules for a "stretch program" of
our own. First, participants need to be performing at or above expectations
already, based on performance reviews—success in one role is a powerful
predictor of success elsewhere, after all—and to have been with the company for
at least a year. Assignments to other divisions are capped at three months,
giving participants up to a full quarter to test the waters.
To avoid
disruption, "stretch" employees spend roughly one day a week on their
adopted team during this 90-day period and the remaining time in their official
role. Their existing manager needs to sign off on the move and be okay with the
reduction in job duties. And importantly, participants are required to draft "learning
plans" in advance and get approval from both their current and rotational
manager.
At the
conclusion of the trial, if the new role is truly working for everyone—and if
the new manager has a need and the resources to bring on a new staffer—then
that employee can make the jump full-time, once his or her old role has been
backfilled. If things don’t work out, no harm done—they're free to return
full-time to the original role or try on a new assignment.
How we’re
beta-testing our new “stretch program”
Here at
Hootsuite, this program is still in pilot stage. We kicked it off earlier this
summer with roughly a half-dozen participants, but we’re already seeing some
positive results.
A leading
salesperson originally focused on large, enterprise-level companies has
stretched over to an assignment in our product management group. He's now
working alongside our VP of operations to come up with ways of standardizing
the life cycle for our products. He spends about 10 hours a week in this role
and will wrap up his rotation at the end of September.
A
social-media marketing specialist with experience using Facebook and Twitter as
promotional tools has jumped over to our corporate development team. He’s
taking that tactical, hands-on knowledge of social media and is now evaluating
how to incorporate newly acquired products into our larger business strategy.
He dedicates about 15 hours a week to this rotation, which concludes in
September.
Whether
these individuals end up transitioning full-time to their new roles or deciding
to return to their home teams, the program still represents a win-win in many
respects. Employees who participate get a chance to try out a new calling,
without ever leaving the company (which is a whole lot easier than hunting down
a new job … only to find out it wasn’t what you were looking for). They build a
professional network that extends beyond their team and add a new skill to
their toolkit. In the best-case scenario, they actually find a brand new
career.
The benefits
flow the other way, too. Hootsuite gets to retain smart, passionate employees
who want to grow and evolve. Corporate silos are broken down and employees gain
insight—and empathy—into other areas of the business. If you’ve never worked in
sales, for instance, you might emerge with newfound appreciation for the
hustlers who keep revenue coming in the door.
Ultimately,
the desire to learn and evolve isn’t just a Millennial virtue—it’s pretty universal.
Giving employees a chance to truly grow—without having to pull up stakes and
leave the company—is a common-sense tactic to attract and keep great talent.
This is so brilliant. .
ReplyDeleteThis is so brilliant. .
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