Case: Why are we loosing all our good people?
Brief description:The case at hand (Refer Appendix I) deals with attrition of high performing top level employees atSambian Partners. Although the company has always prided itself as a great place to work, still thetalented people are leaving which has left its CEO, Helen Gasbarian perplexed. So she asks MaryDonnilo, the head of HR to probe into the reasons behind recent exit of Tom Forsythe, Sambian’sassistant director of commercial design. However during the exit interview Tom refuses to divulge theexact details. The situation gets worse when rumours in the company start flying thick and fast and onesuch rumour of Adrienne Perle, another employee following Tom’s footsteps is brought to the notice of Helen by Bob Wortham, the vice president of engineering. In a desperate attempt to make Adriennestay Helen in a jiffy decides to promote her for which she draws flak from Mary for beingtemperamental and unfair. After few weeks an employee survey is conducted in the company which brings to the fore people issues and grimaces that Helen thinks should suffice answering the questionthat-
“ What really is driving people out the door?”
Case Analysis:The above case is a typical example of lack of employee engagement in an organisation. SambianPartners grapples with the below mentioned issues:
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Unclear vision and mission statement:Engaged employees invest mentally and emotionally in their work and contribute to their employer’s success. They feel a sense of pride in what their company is striving to achieve aswell as a sense of empowerment that they have a role in helping to reach these goals. In this caseSambian has failed to create a mission and culture to which high performers feel connected andcommitted. When Tom’s pet project looses a bid, he’s disappointed because he feels amisalignment between the direction that the firm is taking and his own aspirations.
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Weak manager-employee connect:Connection is a vital link in the employee engagement chain and the most important relationshipis a strong relationship at work between employees and their immediate supervisors. In this casethere is weak such relationship on the account that in case of Adrienne Perle she didn’t discussthe issues with Bob Wortham, her immediate manager.
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Over reliance on the self conducted surveys :At Sambian there are many below the radar issues at play which cannot be gauged by thesurveys conducted by the organisation. Rather than just conducting these in house surveysSambian should also establish an open door policy so that employees know that they can talk tosomeone above their supervisors if they have a complain