Leveraging Fear

Fear can be a powerful enemy - and much has been written on the subject - but it can also be your best ally.

CEOs won't learn anything when I tell them that turnover rates are sky high and it's harder than ever to attract and keep employees. Gen Y people are totally FUBAR and even people in their 40s and 50s switch jobs like they change underwear. Loyalty to the company has done overboard, navel gazing is the new mantra among today's workforce. All this deviant behavior is very costly for large corporations, HR works double shift just to handle the revolving door of talent. And let's be honest, when CGI sends a dozen consultants to a client for a 3-year project, chances are only 2-3 of the original team will remain by the end of the project.

So what can we do for retain talent? Do we provide them more benefits? WRONG! Do we raise salaries on par with the market? WRONG! Do we provide them with perks and flexible rules? WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

The key to lower turnover rate is FEAR. Let me give you some examples:

Situation: John is a Lotus Notes specialist in his early 40's, he knows the product inside out and could teach a lesson or two even to IBM technicians. John might be hired by a competitor looking to place much-needed Notes consultants on a long-term lucrative gig. What do you do?

Solution: You inform John that the Notes market is shrinking like a jelly fish on a Phoenix parking lot in summer time. Yes, a few customers hang on Notes for disturbing psychological reasons, but eventually everyone will jump on Exchange, it'll be the standard much like Word and Excel. Who uses 1-2-3 nowadays, eh? The plot is to scare John out of his skull, luring the unemployment ghost above his head. You then reassure John that the company will train him (barely) on Exchange once the unavoidable takes place. You then add something along the line of "some of our competitors don't do this, they just throw you on the street like a garbage bag the minute you land on the bench". We on the other hand are more generous and provide support for this transitional period. As long as it does not exceed 2 weeks, at which point you should consider playing the bongos in the subway.

Here's another example.

Situation: Mary is a smart woman in her early 50's dealing with organizational change, she has seen rain and snow and can advise your most dysfunctional customers. But she considers quitting and go on her own. What do you do?

Solution: Talk to Mary and find out what scares her. Maybe it was the recession in the 80's when she had to sell her beat-up Volkswagen to feed her 3 kids. Maybe it is loneliness, check out if she eats lunch alone or with friends. Maybe it's the fucking huge house she bought with her consumption-prone husband. Start the conversation by saying out-of-the-blue that independent contractors are having a hell of a bad time, customers are shifting to big firms that provide everything-including-the-kitchen-sink. Tell her that you know someone who went on his own only to discover that filing taxes as a independent worker caused him insomnia, recurring nightmares and acute constipation. If Mary hasn't turned white yet, tell her that upper management at the firm is now suing anyone who goes on his/her own just for the sheer pleasure of creating discomfort. Mary should now turn into an obedient lamb and forget about going indie.

Leveraging fear is our last weapon against employees, so I'm not afraid to use it. If your shop is not unionized, make sure you use fear lavishly. If you're like me, you'll discover that it can be fun.