And now, a little something extra from Captain Obvious...

Ask Annie: Best places: Find your dream town, then a job - Jul. 18, 2006

Quote:

Not so long ago, most career-minded professionals looked for the right job - or any job - and took for granted that they might have to move somewhere less than ideal if their employer asked them to. That's changing fast.

In fact, two-thirds of Americans ages 25 through 34 say they're deciding first where they want to put down roots, and then looking for a job in that place, according to a new study by Yankelovich, a marketing firm, and CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders.

Why the change? For one thing, women care somewhat more than men do about quality-of-life issues, the study says, and they make up a greater proportion of the workforce now than in previous decades. Meanwhile, advances in technology give knowledge-workers more flexibility in choosing where to live and, with a decline in loyalty to any particular employer, people are more willing to bail on a job if they don't like where it's located.

Gee, why a decline in loyalty? Would it have something to do with ANY of the following:

1. Decreased positive treatment of employees (i.e., making other employees suffer--have their hours cut in half, for example--due to some error on another person's part)?
2. Outsourcing?
3. Longer and longer commutes?

I'm sure this list could be longer; and I'm sure some of these bullets could be broken down more. But you get my point. Bosses seem to care less about retention...and yet, when quality employees (even less-than-top performers) leave, a few things happen that negatively affect the bottom line:

1. Money has to be spent to find a replacement (advertising, training, etc)
2. Other people get nervous which can lower morale and, thusly, productivity
3. "Brain drain" -- that is, you're losing 'experts' in your company to get cheaper labor

There's a reason why many of the 'Fortune 500' companies are where they are. For example, Microsoft (from what I've read) can be VERY good with their employees; offering them many perks, a comfortable work environment, satisfactory compensation, etc.

And then there are places like my old construction company, where the general superintendent had NO PROBLEM demeaning the engineers publicly and/or over the 2-way radio (for example). By the time I quit that job, two other people had quit, one was fired, the job was MONTHS behind schedule AND several million dollars over-budget (no I'm not talking about the Big Dig here).

Is there a lesson in all this? Yes. Treat your employees as you would like to be treated. Now, if someone is a total fuck-off, by all means, fire him. But before you just toss in the towel on a B-grade employee, find out if there is a way to help him improve his performance BEFORE you give him the boot.