A recent conversation with an acquaintance unveiled a story of a steady stream of lawyers and other employees who’d left a well-known patent law firm he worked in. Managers at this organization were technically competent, but didn’t know how to manage people well. We’ll call this law firm “The Firm”. Apparently, The Firm didn’t treat employees well (an understatement, by the way). Employees didn’t stay there very long (also an understatement).

Many of The Firm’s employees were extremely talented. When they left, many of them took their business clients to the new Firms that hired them (and the new firms treated them well).

We all know organizations with a revolving door. Many of them, like The Firm, are very good at treating employees very badly. Even in these tough times, keeping talented people is essential to staying sustainable as an organization. Coming out of the recession ready to build and grow will require lots of talent.

The leaders at The Firm (and other companies like The Firm) may not care that many of their employees are talented enough to find a job elsewhere. However, if they think about it, it might be more important to them that these employees often have great relationships with their customers, and losing customers costs Firms lots of money. Many customers are willing to work with those wonderful employees no matter what firm they work at.

Could there possibly be a better bottom-line reason for being kind to employees? I don’t think so. Because:

• treating your employees well will help you to retain your customers: Customers may already be wondering about your revolving door. When that talented employee that they value leaves your firm, they’ll know the truth – and they follow them to the new firm!
• sustaining and growing your business can only happen when people are treated well: Many organizations are focused solely on the bottom line, losing sight of the fact that good employees are responsible for sustainable financial success and growth. Those good employees are most productive when they are treated well. Disengaged employees cost money. Better for your firm if your talented employees are engaged right where they are rather than with a competitor.
• it costs money to fire and hire: This is not news, but do the math anyway. You might be surprised and even scared silly.
• Losing a talented employee and a good customer is a double whammy. You’ve lost your talented employee to a new firm as well as a good customer . And you’ve also lost a good customer. This has become a doubly-expensive loss

So stop greasing that revolving door. Treat your employees with respect . Value the talent you have. Fire or coach the managers who are technically competent but poor at working with people. And then breathe a sigh of relief that you and your firm will be around for a good, long time.

3 Responses to “Stop Greasing that Revolving Door”