By: Ron Guest, Senior Partner, TwoGreySuits  www.twogreysuits.com
There is enough competition out there to be challenging for most businesses, and companies are STILL imploding by doing things that drive employees away. These are things they are 100% in control of and in most cases the company is not even aware of the effect of some of these draconian measures by today’s standards.
Spoiler Alert – some of these I mention will not be in agreement with everyone!
Ok, let me start,
#1 is not being prepared for the interview in terms of knowing exactly what you are looking for as an employer, what job and technical skills, previous experience and behavioral traits are essential or nice to have in the job. This is also unfair to the candidates as they too want to know exactly what you are looking for especially in terms of an up to date job description, so that they can make an informed choice about their level of interest. Lack of clarity in knowing exactly what you are looking for is usually a symptom of poor management. How can you assess a candidate when you don’t have anything to measure them against. (this is also closely related to another pet peeve of mine, not taking any interview notes!)
#2 – policies that restrict a new employee from joining the benefits plan for 3-9 months. I’ve heard some interesting company excuses for this one – “our benefit carrier doesn’t allow new employees to join right away” – hogwash, get a new carrier then! So, you want to attract this new employee who is currently working with benefits, maybe a family too, and you penalize them for joining your company by forcing them to get interim coverage at their own cost or run the risk of not having any benefits for a period of time. This doesn’t sound much like a company that cares for their employees.
#3 – poor onboarding or orientation plans. The first days of a new employee experience speak volumes about the company. If you don’t take the time to introduce them, properly train and speak to/explain the culture, research suggests people who experience poor introduction to the company are often gone in 6 months, their choice.
#4 – lack of social media policies resulting in employees getting severely disciplined or even terminated for doing things that they had no idea were against a company’s implied or actual social media policy. If you don’t want employees speaking negatively about the company on social media, please tell them so.
#5 – too strict adherence to time keeping and time off provisions. Disciplining a good salaried employee for being 5 minutes late to their desk, when this same employee will willingly work late or weekends makes no sense at all. (policy doesn’t always supercede job performance) Of course some jobs require people to be there on time, but most office jobs, no. Asking employees to produce a Doctor’s note or proof of bereavement leave also reeks of a lack of trust on the part of the employer and employees don’t like it either.
#6 – restricting internet use – OK, it is almost 2018 , the internet is here to stay and is a fundamental communication vehicle for business and social. Certainly there are banned sites in workplaces, the obvious ones, but restricting internet use is akin now to grade 2 and 3 rules where children cannot decide for themselves what is right and wrong. Again it speaks to a lack of trust on behalf of the employer.

TwoGreySuits addresses all of these concerns on our website www.twogreysuits.com with up to date social media policies, orientation plans, proper recruitment processes all aimed at improving how people are managed for the benefit of the people and the success of the company.