Why Employees Quit
As many of you know, I read the Havard Business Review. While much of its content is targeted toward tech companies or larger organizations, much of its published content is relevant in the ski area arena. In a recent Spotlight Series/ What Companies Get Wrong About The Employee Experience has value in the context of ski areas. Two of the articles have definite relevance to ski area employees.
The first, Why Employees Quit, is more about professional positions, but I will highlight the related points for ski areas and include the link to the podcast for those interested in the complete article.
“The so-called war for talent is still raging. But in that fight, employers continue to rely on the same hiring and retention strategies they have been using for decades, even though those approaches are not working.” For ski areas, the tight market for staff is exacerbated by the housing issue in mountain areas. However, I would still contend that the hiring and retention effort has not become relevant to the problems of tight labor and housing. There is no easy answer for the housing issue, but for staffing, I would strongly suggest focusing on retaining employees- making them better, creating paths for them to see a future, and appreciating them.
“Despite copious employee surveys, pulse checks, and exit interviews, companies usually don’t get to the bottom of why people quit.” I can be called out on this one, as I never put much effort into exit interviews. I wish I had. There is so much to learn from people leaving that current ideas need to use information on what needs to be fixed.
The article explores the push and pull of people quitting. I will address push, which means pushing the person to leave; pull is an opportunity where factors pull the person to leave.
“I’m pushed when:
I do not respect or trust the people I work with.
I feel that my work has little or no impact on the company, the world, or my life.
The way I am managed day-to-day is wearing me down.
My current company is struggling, and the end feels near.
I end up with a new manager and feel like I am starting over.”
I have seen things at ski areas, especially the first three bullets, that leadership can easily address.
“Perhaps the most fundamental problem to solve is the job description. It usually consists of a hodgepodge of skills, qualifications, and platitudes about work style and culture cribbed from past job descriptions, competitors’ postings, and requirements for title and pay grades. The whole thing is so broad as to be meaningless.” This can be a problem, and I have seen it in many different situations outside of ski areas, but it is an issue at ski areas when hiring professional year-round staff. Here is the article summation of the job description problem:
“Perhaps the most fundamental problem to solve is the job description. It’s usually a hodgepodge of skills, qualifications, and platitudes so broad as to be meaningless.”
The article puts a lot of blame on the lawyers of the world, but my take is yes, to a certain degree. Lawyers work for us, and to allow litigiousness around employment is a failure of the ski company's management, not the lawyers.
There is a lot of meat to this Spotlight Series, and I hope you will listen, maybe on your commute to and from the hill or at some other quiet time. 😊