Openly ask employees four questions

This is almost a law. After each economic recession, people, especially good ones, have always become restless, and their employers are beginning to worry about how to prevent job-hopping . This round of recovery is no exception, although this time the job market is even more depressed than usual.

Now, getting top executives to answer calls is easier than a year or two ago. Not only did the headhunters find out, companies also seemed more willing to tap the corner. In a survey conducted last month by Right Management, about two-thirds of employers complain that competitors are trying to find ways around their top talent. Compared with less than half (42%) last year.

But the biggest problem is that the person you most want to keep may not tell you bluntly that they are dissatisfied with the job they are doing - at least until they accept the opportunities offered by other companies and by then late. So, identifying who has given birth to two hearts is "crucial for the moment," said Mark Anderson, president of ExecuNet, an online executive career website. "We found that answering four specific questions allowed employers to know who might be leaving."

Researchers at ExecuNet identified these issues in the upcoming edition of the 2013 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report. The report conducted a detailed survey of 3,785 U.S. executives (average salary: $ 220,000) in each industry. Respondents answered questions about everyone's plans for the next 12 months and ExecuNet divided all respondents into two categories based on these answers-about 55% of respondents decided to stay the status quo while 45% of respondents did not OK or have been preparing to quit.

Investigators found some interesting things in the data screening process. Anderson said: "We asked one question: 'Are you proud of the company you are working for?' Of the respondents who decided to stay current, 89% gave a positive answer, and the respondents who are preparing to quit Only 62% of this proportion. "This phenomenon caught the attention of ExecuNet, so the company started looking for other relationships and found three other issues:

• Do you like your own job? 86% of respondents who were called "happy people" by Anderson answered affirmatively, while only 58% of respondents intend to quit.

Is your boss a person who makes you respect and / or admiration? 80% of the respondents who stayed behind were Yes, and only 56% of the respondents who are ready to quit give affirmative answers.

• Would you recommend other executives in your social circles to work for your current company? Seventy-five percent of happy people said they would recommend other executives, compared to just 42% of those who plan to quit.

Anderson said: "Do not recommend other people to work for their company, and do not take the initiative to tell others the job vacancies, which is a very clear warning signal that the person no longer have the illusion of the company, willing to accept any other Local opportunities, and we think that answering these four questions helps employers understand exactly where to focus their talent retention efforts. "

How can the employer discern whether the employee's answer is reliable? Anderson said management should sit down with the company's most wanted people for further engagement. He advises employers to ask: "Are you passionate about your job as you used to be, or do you have any other job in the company, or do you think that as a company, we should fail to do so What are the things?

Anderson said the key is to "figure out why the executive works for the company and what he or she thinks of the future. What can be done better than the current situation? How can he or she and the top The relationship with the boss more solid and efficient?

Andersen acknowledged that there is no effective way to determine who will resign, and the profitable opportunities to headhunting are irresistible, even by the most elite proponents. Even so, "an open and straightforward discussion can help employers understand" how their company's star employees perceive their careers - and what they need to entice employees to stay in the company.