10 Ways to Lose Employees

On my way to work. I’m very late. Again. I’m not happy about it. I’m not usually like this. I’m usually the girl extremely tardy people would hate. I’ve been known to leave people behind. I’ve left meeting which didn’t start on time. I limit waiting to a maximum of an hour. But that’s a different blog entry. Just want you to appreciate the gravity of consecutive tardiness this week—three days in a row!

Anyway, the reason for this behavior aberration is the situation at work. It’s gotten so bad that everyday, I now start my mornings debating with myself if I will go to work or not. It’s gotten so bad that I have actually managed to have enough material for a full length blog entry. And it’s not one of those I-woke-up-showered-went-to-work-went-home-watched-TV-went-to-bed entries.

Ten ways to lose employees. The idea for this entry was born one time I was talking to one of the several employees who are leaving within days of each other. We were venting (as usual) and ranting (as usual) about the foibles of the powers that be. So what are these ten fool-proof ways to lose employees?

1. Hire managers & executives then ignore every suggestion/proposal they have to improve your company’s performance. Don’t empower them to make decisions or have opinions. Then tell them they don’t know how to do their jobs.

2. Treat your employees like they are all stupid. Only what you think is right. Everybody else just works for you.

3. Cultivate aculture of distrust and insecurity within your organization. Deduct every centavo you can get away with from your employee’s meager salary. The accuse them of stealing from you and consider them guilty until proven innocent.

4. Hire relatives to key positions by virtue of their being related to you by blood. Make sure that they always differ in their opinion with yours. So much the better if they share your position that nobody else but you is right, and you both insist that your people should follow your directives, never mind if they are from opposing sides.

5. Give your approval to projects and then when it’s the 11th hour, forget you approved them, have them re-done and implemented based on the timetable which you refuse to change. Then blame your people for not getting things ready on time.

6. Tell them they have leave credits after a year of servitude. And then when the time comes, tell them that they have to earn those leave credits with additional months of service.

7. Tell them that they have HMO benefits but forget to tell them that they have to pay for it themselves and that it excludes other basic coverage in your interest to save your employees money. They’ll find out soon enough when they receive their card and payslip.

8. Make the company pay for your Pradas, Guccis and Jimmy Choos. Then when the company is already in the red, tell all your employees that they should all employ cost-cutting measures to keep the company afloat. This includes laying off people and then expecting those left behind to take up the slack without any additional compensation.

9. Make sure that all contractuals stay on cancelable-anytime terms. Then let people go with the very reasonable notice of one day.

10. Let your managers enter into contracts and agreements. And then insist that they to try to renege on these.

Here’s a bonus:
11. Treat all your employees with suspicion. Avoid any employee assembly for fear that they might get it in their heads to organize themselves and file a labor suit against you. It is advisable to think that all employees intend to rip you off and cheat you off your pesos which you are not declaring so that the BIR cannot get their hands on it.

Hope this very basic rules and guideline help you.