Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER March 24, 2014 March 24, 2014 2 NEWS NEWS ACROSS CANADA What's happened to job creation in Canada? It's all about Alberta Province responsible for almost all new net jobs in past year P.E.I., Manitoba to join Ontario in developing provincial pension plan Provinces frustrated with feds' refusal to expand CPP Hidden jobs data paints bleak picture of labour market: CLC Says StatsCan needs to be more detailed in reporting Jobs picture dims as economy sheds 7,000 jobs in February But full-time employment rises by 18,900 B.C. unions call for minimum wage to increase to $13 Increase would make B.C. minimum wage highest in Canada AROUND THE WORLD High absenteeism an issue in French public sector: Study Workers miss nearly 1 month of work per year beyond annual leave Seattle school offi cial fi red for marrying same-sex partner Offi cial suing school, archdiocese for wrongful dismissal Obama budget would spend big on job training Proposes more than $7.7 billion for apprenticeship, training programs Creating jobs China's top priority: Minister But balance employment growth with economic targets Integrating sustainability into HR mandates Author Bob Willard explains how prioritizing sustainability in a work environment increases employee productivity and improves business results changes include: •off ering fewer constructive con- tributions in meetings •being more reserved and quiet •avoiding social interactions with their boss and other members of management •suggesting fewer new ideas •working less productively. " ere's this idea that people quit before they quit and it's this idea that once someone sort of makes up in their mind that they're going to leave at some point in the future, they start to disengage from their organiza- tion," said Van Iddekinge, who worked on the study. If workers demonstrate at least six of these behaviours, the study's statistical formula can predict, with 80 per cent accuracy, they are about to leave their employer, said Tim Gardner, associate professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. "It's not that every person that quits exhibits all of these disen- gagement items, but essentially the disengagement score is signifi - cantly higher for employees who have quit," he said. "To me, that's the most excit- ing thing. Anyone with a data set can fi nd something but to say, 'I can take completely new data and make very accurate predictions about who's a stayer and who's a leaver' really shows that we found something and it's not just ran- dom association that a statistical software program would fi nd." e study is largely based on the recollections of people who left their jobs, or managers who had employees who left. And factors such as age, gender, edu- cational level, marital status or union status were controlled for in the study, said Gardner, who completed the study. "Even with all these observable factors that do predict turnover, the disengagement cues were sta- tistically signifi cant," he said. "So the takeaway is that the disen- gagement cues are empirically or scientifi cally or statistically better than the standard set of attributes that one might use to predict whether someone is quitting or not quitting." ere are a couple of diff erent factors that drive these subtle be- haviours, said Gardner. Jobseek- ers are stressed and under strain from the extra work, and it's like they're living a double life, having to fake interest in their work while learning about new companies and networking. ey are hiding a big part of their life, which mani- fests in the cues, he said. And some of the behaviours that did not make the list are un- expected, said Gardner. ese in- cluded people showing up to work late more often, failing to return phone calls or emails, or taking more sick days. " ose weren't unique behav- iours that applied only to quitters," he said. "What this means is, yes, jobseekers exhibit these behav- iours — but so do stayers… e exciting or the counter-intuitive fi nding is that it's really a small set of behavioural changes that distinguish a quitter from a stayer." Employees are always on the lookout, whether they're thrilled or not thrilled to be at their job, according to Cissy Pau, principal consultant at Clear HR Consult- ing in Vancouver. "I just assume that everybody's got their ear to the ground and seeing what opportunities there are out there. at's human na- ture, especially in this day and age of social media and LinkedIn," she said. "On your LinkedIn profi le, right there, it says, 'Here are jobs you might be interested in' so you can't help but click on that." As a result, it's up to employers to engage workers, said Pau. "Whether they dem- onstrate these cues and these behaviours or not, if they're not happy in their job, they're going to leave. So you as an employer, as a manager, still have to review your company culture, your management talent, their ability to engage their staff — I don't think that changes. Know- ing this (study's results) doesn't change the fact that employers have to create an environment where employees want to work." Implications for managers Managers won't have an easy time picking up on these 18 cues, she said, and it's easy to say, after the fact, "Oh yeah, they kind of stopped participating in our staff meetings and I gave them that op- portunity to go to that conference and they didn't want to go." You require a really self-aware and aware manager to pick up on these things," said Pau. "And if they're picking up on these things, they're likely already a pretty good manager and hav- ing ongoing communication (with their employees)." Other contributors to turnover can include demographic chang- es, she said, such as the average duration of a job being three to fi ve years — so a worker might be stagnating at the four-year mark. "I would say that would be a big- ger trigger," said Pau. But this study can help manag- ers make better use of their time, particularly when it comes to stay interviews, said Gardner. "Instead of managers using this to go on a witch hunt and fi re peo- ple they think might be leaving, to look for disengagement cues and to use their time eff ectively for the stay interviews, that could tell them who they should be meet- ing with that might be thinking of leaving or after they're looking, and fi nd out what's going on and making changes if necessary to try to retain them." All of this is based on the prem- ise that a manager has some sem- blance of emotional intelligence (EQ) in assessing employees, said Neale Harrison, CEO of Tal- ent Matters in Toronto. But if a manager does notice some of the behavioural cues on the checklist, it would be best to quickly talk to the employee, to see if anything's wrong or if she's misreading the signs, he said. " e employee would see value in that you've checked in with them, you care," said Harrison. " at allows you to at least plan, hopefully support them exiting and plan to replace them, so may- be work with a timetable versus be surprised by a timetable forced upon you." But there are no defi nite an- swers, he said. " ere's benefi ts to (the study), absolutely, but the notion there is a formula which provides people- related answers and there's one formula that can ascertain this outcome, you've really got to be careful because human beings are interesting and one size doesn't fi t all." And often there's a diff erence when it comes to studies based in the United States because the working culture and environment there is really about squeezing everything out of an employee, said Harrison. It's a tougher, less forgiving environment, whereas a place like Canada really taps into an employee's discretionary eff ort through understanding what mo- tivates her, what she aspires to. " ere's a lot more focus, in my experience, around good organi- zations and eff ective managers fo- cusing in on, 'OK, what does my employee want?'" he said — and often employees are only meant to stay for a few years before it's a good time for them to move on to their next opportunity. Recent stories posted on www.hrreporter.com. Check the website daily for quick news hits from across Canada and around the world. WEB O N T H E hrreporter.com FEATURED VIDEO LOOKING TO HIRE? CFA Society Toronto's employment posting service gives you access to over 8,000 investment professionals. Our Career Centre has become the job source for investment employers. WHY NOT JOIN US? For more information: Tel: 416.366.5755 option 4 Email: jobs@cfatoronto.ca www.cfatoronto.ca WANT ACCESS TO HIGHLY QUALIFIED INVESTMENT PROFESSIONALS? COMPENSATION (416) 498-7800 ext. 141 www.resourcecorporation.com Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation CONSULTING Managers can 'check in' with employees Managers can 'check in' with employees TURNOVER < pg. 1 "It's really a small set of behavioural changes that distinguish a quitter from a stayer."

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