Fear of Attrition
There is almost this broad sense of belief that employees are at the mercy of their employers, but it can, just as accurate, if not more, the other way round. Fear of attrition is one of the less talked about topics when it comes to corporate issues. Attrition means to wear down or to reduce in number. In the corporate terms, employee quitting their positions or leaving is attrition. Fear of attrition refers to the fear many companies feel about their employees leaving them and having an empty spot in needy times.
Many companies work with this looming threat that their employees might quit for a better opportunity. They can’t see their most capable hands to leave their side. Many times, fear of attrition makes companies overcompensate their employees to keep them around. Consequently, bosses might feel that their efforts to almost smother their employees are instead ineffective and eventually, lead their employees to do what they actually wanted to prevent, leaving.
To limit employees from leaving, the company starts diluting and compromising on its core values and beliefs. This happens way often than we realise. The company and managers make changes just to make sure their bests aren’t leaving them for something better. Many times people who are undeserving and incapable are given the benefit of these insecurities. They become lazy and take things for granted. This, in turn, makes the capable leaders and the brightest employees feel devalued and their efforts go unnoticed. This makes many of the best employees leave, something the company had intended to avert from the beginning.
This also happens to loyal clients when brands start to please everyone to gain vast client pool. They compromise on their core beliefs and values. This only makes them lose their most loyal customers who loved the company for who and what they were. These customers where the ones that promoted the brand through word of mouth which we can all agree is the most valued review in this world of viral content.
Fear of attrition can also work in the opposite way. Fearing their employees might ultimately leave the managers might actually become indifferent to them.
Many employees look for professional growth as the one added benefit to their work. When managers become indifferent towards their employees, they do not take the responsibility to provide professional growth to their employees. This, in turn, sends a contrary notion about the company and its culture to all its employees.
Fear of attrition may make the managers feel that they do not need to spend time, effort or money on their employees’ professional growth, as they might leave anyway. This makes managers pay less and less for any employee training and development programs. Employee training is one of the most voluntary spending done by a company. A company who doesn’t trust their employees to stay with them would first cut down on spending for its employees. This is why many of the companies opt out of the employee training programs and offer little to no professional growth to its employees.
In conclusion, all this makes the most unwanted to happen, losing employees to better places where the fear of attrition does not grip the company.
Read more: How to Tackle the Fear of Attrition?
@Copyright Qtrainers
