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Are You Paying Your Employees to Quit?


A Tier 1 supplier to Subaru began offering their 700 employees an attendance bonus. A Leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrochemical company offering research, discovery, safety and, manufacturing promoted a $1,500 sign-on bonus for anyone applying for a job and able to meet the requirements of the sign-on bonus. Still another company in the elder care industry provided free day-care to their employees. All of this to attract and retain employees. Does this work long-term or does it create new problems?


Here is what SHRM discovered about these bonuses; Workforce experts argue that the extra cash employers shell out in annual bonuses does nearly nothing to build employee loyalty and increase retention. Instead, that year-end check often means employers are paying their workers to quit.

Transformation happens by the renewing of the mind not the renewing of the salary. Intrinsic inspiration comes from within not from a dangling carrot but a purposeful heart. Transformation requires an investment of time, money, and resources to help people learn, grow, and achieve their goals. Changing the way we think is how real transformation takes place. Helping a person mature, grow wiser, gain wisdom, and continually improve in some areas of their lives leads to transformation. Ringing a bell(Carrot) will not lead your people to loyalty and longevity (solid foundation). Transactional motivation is the perfunctory action, exchange , or interaction between people. This is the typical carrot and the stick. The carrot and stick is what Pavlov's experiments were about. Pavlov had the idea that dogs do not need to learn certain things, such as salivating when they see food. Employers believe if you dangle more money in front of someone you will attract them to your company. Even if that is true will it keep them there? He said these reflexes are hard-wired into dogs. He coined the dog's food as an unconditioned stimulus (sign-on bonuses) and the salivation as an unconditioned response - this response did not require any learning on the dog's(employee) part. This is how I see transactional motives in the workplace. They do not work long-term. Hundreds of billions of dollars were wasted during the pandemic on such Pavlovian techniques. Instead if you invest $30,000-$50,000 to become a transformational workplace you will engage more of your employees and increase your employee retention. This is a long-term strategy that few successfully execute.


Employers must tend to the soil in their company. The soil is your culture. Just like the soil around your home affects the foundation so the foundation (core values) of your workplace begins to deteriorate when your soil(culture) is no longer healthy. When the foundation starts to deteriorate the whole structure begins to feel the negative effects of the crumbling, shifting, and cracking. Here is what to look for in your foundation (core values) when looking for signs of deterioration before it is too late.

  1. Adequate Depth - Most companies do not have enough quality, engaged employees on staff especially those doing the direct care or manufacturing of your services and products. One important component for adequate depth is the quality of your supervisors and management. If these two are weak the culture begins to weaken and the foundation begins to shift and crumble. The problem is most companies don't monitor this situation and they are slow to act or react which leads to greater deterioration until you have a major foundational problem.

  2. Bearing Capacity - Do you give new people adequate time to get into work shape? Is your training consistent and compelling? Do you hire for attitude and values above skills or just the need for a body? Too many employers cut corners in the most important areas to develop and maintain healthy soil (culture).

  3. Settlement - Do you have a thriving and exciting onboarding and orientation process? Onboarding is the place engagement should start to take shape. Are your new hires interacting with the team they will be working with on day one of your orientation and then throughout the onboarding process? Typically companies do not do a good job of integrating the team in with the new hires. If you have high turnover your employees will typically sit back and wait to see who survives and who doesn't. Here is where the cracks begin to grow even larger. The patterns, habits, and traditions of your company affect the soil(culture) and start shifting the foundation (core values) and the cracks become long and deep. Developing new and better habits should be an ongoing process for every company. Monitoring and identifying your good and bad habits should be an ongoing process. Believe me you have both good and bad habits. Transformation comes in developing good habits and destroying the bad. You must be vigorous in protecting your foundation(core values) and tending to your soil(culture).

  4. Adverse soil changes - Rotating door of employment and turnover. Good people leaving the company. Transactional motivation instead of Transformational inspiration. Managing and meeting people to death instead of coaching them for life success.

  5. Seismic forces - Population shifts, educational attainment levels, lack of skills, aging population, and no written workforce development strategy or plan. Going without a road map will have a dramatic negative impact on your workforce and your reputation in the community. The after shocks of the lack of engagement and purpose will cause not only more cracks but it will weaken your structure and cause the foundation to move and destabilize.

Identify your foundation (core values) then tend to your soil (healthy culture). Offer a compelling and engaging vision and develop a strategy for engagement, empowerment, and how you will serve your workforce. Nearly 90% of companies will fail executing their strategy because they get this process backwards. Most people believe a good strategy will change the culture. The truth says, culture will always eat your strategy for breakfast.








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