Are Your Employees Job Hunting While on the Job?
Employees come and go; that’s just a fact of having them. But that doesn’t mean employers shouldn’t take steps to keep the good ones. Retaining good employees is good for business in many ways. It saves money on recruiting, hiring and training. It helps keep productivity high. And retaining good employees is good for morale.
And then there’s the other side: is it fair for employees to search for new jobs while they’re at work? Should employers have to pay their employees to find a new employer? Obviously not.
That’s why it makes sense to know the ways employees might be looking for new jobs while working for you. First, you might be able to interrupt a great employee’s job searching activities and find ways to keep him or her. Second, you can be open with job searchers and remind them they need to work for you—not look for work—while they’re on the clock.
Here are a few things employers can do to see if employees are job searching on the job:
- Check social media profiles: If employees are updating their experience, skills or recent accomplishments, it could be a sign they’re starting the job search.
- Pay attention: Look for changes in habits. Employees who suddenly wear dressy clothes could be interviewing, as could those who usually eat at their desks who are suddenly taking long lunches away from the workplace. If early morning interviews or coffee meetings are taking place, staffers who typically arrive at 8:00 a.m. might start coming in late.
- Look for a drop in productivity: For workers who use computers all day, it can be difficult to know what they’re actually doing. Is George preparing those budget forecasts or catching up with online networking contacts? Is Elizabeth preparing shipping documents or applying for jobs? If their work output is lower than usual, it’s time to check in.
- Job-searching employees who are more production-oriented may be away from their workstations more often, taking phone calls in private or borrowing other employees’ computers to check email or online job site activity.
- Monitor employee activity: Employers are allowed to monitor employee use of computers, Internet, email, telephone, etc. After all, you’re paying for the equipment, the utilities, and the building, not to mention paying the employees to be there. Do you really want them taking care of personal business—like searching for a new job—on your dime?
Remember that what employees do on their own time (even interviewing on their lunch hour) is their own business. But if they let job-searching bleed over into their work time, it becomes the employers’ business.
Tags: Employee Management, Keeping Employees, Managing Employees
