Expectation versus Reality – Deliver on your promises, consistently
Bradley Savoy May 17, 2007
Companies who are serious about their talent need to deliver on their promises, consistently.
When a candidate goes to your careers website they begin to research your company. They are looking for information, drivers, and attractors that make your company a more intriguing proposition than others. Let’s say they decide to apply, and they’re invited in for the interview.
From the moment they arrive at your office they are gauging if the company they saw online what they see in reality. As you go further down the lifecycle of hiring someone further expectations develop based on the information you portray to the candidate.
If the recruiter or hiring manager driving the interview process makes statements such as: “We have a strong work/life balance at our company. We believe in learning and development. We have an open door policy in which management is readily acceptable.” Then the organization better be prepared to deliver on those statements, consistently.
Take the Gen X group and the Millenials. Both of these groups are getting a lot of focus from companies right now to ensure they fill talent gaps as boomers reach retirement. From our research, one of the key areas of attraction for both of these groups is learning and development. Another dynamic of these groups is a lack of long-term company loyalty. If your company states a strong position on learning and development online, during the interview process, and during on-boarding and you don’t deliver on that promise; then these groups will leave, quickly.
Our QTrac offering measures expectation versus reality. We ask employees if the expectation they have of the company is matching the reality they experience over time. Our results show significant drop offs in satisfaction if companies aren’t effectively setting and managing expectations with their new hires.
- About 85% of employees are satisfied at 30 days of tenure
- But only 60% are satisfied at 90 days of tenure
- There’s a further decline as employees reach 180 days, or six months of tenure
The companies we work with that effectively manage expectation versus reality make sure that the messages they state on their website, during the interview process, and beyond are truthful. They also ask the employees what they think, consistently. If the perception of the employees is not mapping to what the companies expect then they begin to make changes, not later, but right then.
Posted in Human Resources Analytics, Hodes QTrac, Employer Branding, HR Metrics, HR Benchmarking, Recruiting, Retention, Workforce Management
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:47 am
Organizations which fail to deliver on their value propositions during the recruitment process endure negative returns on their employee relationship management (ERM) efforts.
ERM is the long term successful partnership between an organization and its employees.
When organizations highlight their promising work environment with marketing slogans such as “The strength of many. Power of One… Committed to diversity” and “Fast, Fun, and Friendly” to attract new hires, the marketing campaign must be derived from the true culture to ensure consistency and uphold integrity. The new hires evaluate the first impression, carry that limited knowledge of what life is like with the new employer and expect to work in a culture which is “Fun and Friendly.”
When expectations are met - the potential for management of a long term relationship between the new employee and employer is highly likely. All the attributes of higher retention rates, internal growth, better sales, and employee referrals apply in this scenario.
Job seekers teased into cultures by unfaithful slogans walk out the next day. The short term gain of an employee for a day is negatively offset by the subsequent need to back-fill the position. All the losses of higher turnover rates, viral “shame-marketing” (where ex-employees share their bad experiences), and existing employees’ diminishing trust in their organization’s ability to manage its workforce apply in this scenario.
The negative equity of a failing ERM plan is hard hitting. Manage your relationship with integrity and your employees will thank you.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thanks Ben, I couldn’t agree with you more and love your insights into this.
We welcome your other comments to our postings so we can continue the dialogue. Thanks!