Download Management and Control of the Core Staff’s Recessive Drain

Management and Control of the Core Staff’s Recessive Drain
ZHANG Chun Ying, YANG Ting
College of Industry and Commerce Administration Tianjin Polytechnic University, P.R.China, 300052
[email protected]
Abstract In today's global competition, the sustainability of growth and development of the enterprise
essentially depends on the level of excellence at its competitive advantage. A key element is whether
they possess a large number of excellent core staff. The recessive drain is a hot issue in managing core
staff’s losing. Only objectively analyzing the causes of core staff’s recessive drain from many
dimensionalities and proposing feasible control measures with the goal of improving the incentive
mechanism, the enterprises enhance job stratification and employee loyalty to effectively raise the
enterprise's core competitiveness.
Key words Core staff; Recessive drain; Organizational commitment; Work re-design; Job satisfaction
1 Introduction
In increasing market competition, the company must speedily improve its core competitiveness. Core
staffs are the key resources reflecting the competitive edge, which play an irreplaceable role in the
operations of the enterprise and the development. Key employees’ losing has become an important
subject on the study of the enterprise management, of high concern in the whole society, and its relevant
research results are an endless stream. As we noted currently, in studying this problem about the drain of
the core staff, the most concern is the dominant turnover. However, in fact the recessive drain easily
overlooked impacts on the healthy development at times. It is not only a negative factor increasing
business hidden costs and weakening the enterprises’ competitiveness, but also an invisible killer
affecting other staffs’ morale and enthusiasm, which causes enormous losses to businesses.
Therefore, the in-depth study on the core staff’s recessive drain has a theoretical and practical
significance for continuously increasing employee satisfaction and corporate loyalty, to effectively
improve the firm's core competitiveness and accelerate the positively rapid development of enterprises.
2 The recessive drain of the core staff and its forms
2.1 Defining the concept of the core staff’s recessive drain
The so-called core staffs usually refer to those with specialized skills, mastering core business and
controlling the key resources, which play a pivotal role in the development and have a far-reaching
impact on the enterprise. Human industry experts pointed out that the core staff should be referring to
the worker who is irreplaceable in certain areas and plays the most influential role in creating
performance and developing the company. Core staff is a source of competitive advantage and the main
creator of enterprise value, profoundly effecting on the survival and development. Simultaneously they
are the main target snatched in the talent market. Obviously, it is clear that these staffs stay or leave
relates to the success or failure of the enterprise.
On the research of the staff’s losing, the community usually only concerned about the dominant turnover.
In other words, they follow with the staff flow changing the attached relation through Talent exchange
organizations (or personnel department). But there is another phenomenon about turnover which is
equally important to the business——it is the recessive drain of the staffs. The so-called recessive drain
of the talent is a behavior which is that the staff’s exciting site (or point of interest) starts to be (or has
been) transferred beyond the scope of their work in the condition that the staff doesn’t change the
attached relation with the company, and thus they weaken their work efficiency.
2.2 The main forms of the recessive drain
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The recessive drain has two kinds of concrete manifestation, as follows: 1One is hidden category. Its
characteristic is that the exciting site of the staff has started to shift, lack of interest in their work, cold
and indifferent to their job, but no actual behavior. They only leak out their idea, consciousness and
opinions on public affairs. It is usually said that body in Cao, but heart in Han. And another type is
dominant category. In other words, whilst they don’t leave the organization, the staffs often have many
actions to show off, usually including part-time, borrowing, intelligence support and privately running
factories, and so on.
3 The losses of the core staff’s recessive drain
3.1 Tangible losses
In the enterprise, the core staff’s recessive drain will product enormous tangible losses such as human
costs and making competitive advantages frustrated including fostering costs, salaries and benefits costs,
training costs, technology, marketing, sales channels and customers secretly transfer, and so on. They
directly affect the enterprise’s competition states and development in the market situation.
3.2 Invisible losses
The recessive drain of core staff has an indirect effect on the enterprise, and its invisible losses mainly
consist of the secret interruption of the continuity of the work, staffs’ distraction, the effective
destruction of the echelon’s structure, the development potential of the enterprise and secretly
weakening the competitiveness, ect.. What’s more important, enterprise's core technology, patent rights
and scientific researches are lack of protection.
4 Cause analysis of the recessive drain
4.1 The social environment’s factors
4.1.1 Geographical differences talent shortage
Since Chinese talent unevenly distribute in every area, which makes them unable to full play, some of
the potential talents have a chance to choose one "battlefield" or more for their own. As the employing
units, usually part-time are generally considered to have more part-time responsibility seriously, and the
working efficiency and quality is relatively high, which will not only serve to bring considerable
economic benefits for the company, but also be removed from the burden such as the medical, housing
and welfare and so on. This will supply the core staff with market place of the hidden separation.
4.1.2 The increased pressure of fashion
In the large environment where the fashion become the mainstream of society and people wish to pursue
a high quality of life, the key staffs with special skills consider that on the one hand the compensations
and benefits offered to them can’t meet their psychological needs, and on the other hand they have
owned more relatively stable position in this company. Therefore, in order to seek psychological balance
and meet the needs of life, these people choose the recessive drain’s life-style.
4.1.3 The rapidly developing information technology
Relying on the computers, television and multimedia phones, information systems network, high-speed
transmission of information and modern communications of information extricate the hidden departure
from the obstacles of the office space to timely carry out the jobs from other companies, achieving “the
people who in one place, several”.
4.2 Organizational factors
4.2.1 Lacking confidence in prospects for the enterprise
Core employees pay much more attentions to the future prospects for the development of enterprises and
that whether their own skills are fully played in the enterprise. If considering not to be long-term
1
Zheng Guoqu, Investigation and Thinking on the Talents’ Recessive drain, Fujian Tribune. A Economics
&sociology Monthly, 1994(05):63~65(in Chinese)
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development, or they feel the channel plugged, the core staffs may be prone to lose confidence in
business prospects and cause burnout, and thus the tendency of leaving will naturally appear.
4.2.2 No accreditation with corporate culture
Good corporate culture, as a code of conduct by the staff can create a good organizational atmosphere
and working environment and plays an indispensable role in mobilizing the working enthusiasm of
employees and their loyal heart from the conviction. But when feeling that they can’t integrate into this
culture, the collaboration and communication with the staffs will be frustrated to cause the feelings of
depression, sleepiness and mental and physical exhaustion, and thus the job satisfaction will also decline.
No opportunity to "switch", the core staffs have no choice but to separate hidden.
4.2.3 Lacking scientific incentive mechanism
If performance appraisal system is imperfect as well as uncompetitive salaries and benefits, ignoring the
staff training and lacking the necessary career management, etc., the core staffs, with a strong desire to
achieve self-worth and the objectives of social achievements, will gradually be disheartened to
enterprises and form recessive drain before finding a new "switch" opportunity.
4.3 Personal factors
4.3.1 Staff professional burnout
Professional burnout is an emotion tired of his work and slacking off. According to the research, the
correlation between professional burnout and staff’s intention of recessive drain is positive. Dissatisfied
with existing work, it arises inevitably that work slacks off and their work efficiency lowers, which have
seriously affected the performance level of staffs and organization and have actually created a hidden
separation.
4.3.2 The staff organizational commitment reduced and job satisfaction declined
Organizational commitment refers that the staffs have a strong sense of trust and identification with the
organization's goals and values, and are willing to pay a lot of efforts for the interests of the organization,
with intense expectations to maintain the relationship between the organizational members. A study
showed that, job satisfaction and organizational commitment perform a positive correlation. For
example, the wages is the direct source of income. When organizations can not meet the needs of the
staff’s life, they will have grievances, thereby lowering their expectations of the organization.
4.3.3 Working hours lax and performance evaluation is not tight
The core staffs have enough time to carry on hidden turnover, because there are loose working hours and
greater flexibility. And in addition, performance assessment mechanism is imperfect. For example, the
compensations do not pay directly linked together with performance, status and treatment don’t
connected with the contribution to work, and there is no feedback and communication in the
organization, which may stifle the staff’s working activeness.
5 Controlling measures of the core staff’s recessive drain
5.1 To establish the early warning mechanism about the dynamic thinking
The early warning mechanism about staff’s dynamic thinking is a comprehensive early warning system
to eliminate various instable factors and create a stable environment for the enterprises, where the
mangers timely know well the worker’s ideological changes, analysis and forecast its development
tendency by establishing employee information networks, the members of information and work system,
carry the level management according to their ideological trends likely to affect the stability of
enterprises and properly handle the issues.
The mechanism consists of three specific steps2: (1) Setting up a network from the high level to the
grass-roots one. Ensure the sense of fairness and loyalty of the core staff in the organization by
improving performance incentives and compensation system. (2) Designing smooth workflow, including
five work links such as information gathering, information analysis, information dissemination,
2
CPC Committee Laiwu Steel Group Co., Ltd. Implementation and Effect of the Early-warning Mechanism about
Workers’ Dynamic Thinking, Metallurgical Research Lands, 2004(04):19~20(in Chinese)
422
information processing and information feedback to timely find out key employees’ ideological trends.
(3) Establishing the emergency solutions. The enterprise should timely communicate with key staffs and
take proper measures to help them to adjust emotion and work attitude to eliminate every hidden
trouble.
5.2 To improve the construction of corporate culture and foster the staff’s confidence
With outstanding corporate culture retain key employees. On the one hand, enterprises should strengthen
the building of culture and propaganda so as to fully understand business objectives, establish unified
values and create a good atmosphere, where the core staff can continually be in pursuit of development.
On the other hand is to implement democratic management. The enterprise should admit the capable
staffs with the ideas to involving in the operational development and decision-making process in order
to enhance confidence and cohesion in the development of enterprise.
5.3 To build and perfect the incentive mechanism for talented people
Enterprises build and improve the talented incentive mechanism based on the performance evaluation
and compensation management, through the participation of the staffs in designing and managing the
salary system to actuate compensation system better suited to mobilize the enthusiasm of the staff
introduced. Enhance the attractiveness of the core staff and incentives, to effectively improve their
enterprise loyalty.
5.4 To strengthen career management of the core staffs
Enterprises should strengthen career management to enhance the opportunities’ commitment for the core
staff. On the one hand, enterprises can organize career consulting and coaching and discuss together
their career goals to help the core staff make reasonable decisions about career development. On the
other hand, provide the core staff with relative platforms, such as skills training to achieve professional
development. The best state of career management of business-to-core staff is that the enterprises
implement the planning process of the intrinsic linkage with the key employees in order to achieve
two-way dynamic match between the career development of the core staff and the one of the
organization to gain common growth.
5.5 To attach importance to the core staffs’ training and enhance the competitiveness of the
organizations
According to the latest survey of talents market in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, training
opportunities and "re-learning" opportunities which organizations provide to employees are ones of the
important factors affecting staffs’ demission rate and the magic weapon for controlling the recessive
drain. It can make key employees feel organizational concerned about them to enhance their sense of
belonging. Also the core staffs timely acquire new knowledge, technology and skills to strengthen the
flexibility of the enterprise and competitiveness in the market.
5.6 To implement the work re-design
Motivating employees by the ways such as job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation, on the one
hand, it can increase the job satisfaction of employees and inspire the job motivation. And on the other
hand, the job re-design contributes to the smooth implementation of the organizational work and jointly
promotes the efficient production and maximize output. Furthermore, through the work re-design, the
core staffs can see the hope of promotion and development to thus eliminate hidden-service orientation,
maintaining passion for work.
6 Conclusions
To sum up, the core staff’s recessive drain is the core issue of the business management, which is
synthetically affected by the external environment of the enterprises and individual factors of employees.
If poorly managed, it will lead to increase hidden costs of the enterprises and weaken the
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competitiveness of the enterprises and cohesion to seriously impact on the development of the
enterprises and achieving strategic objectives. The enterprise can improve staff loyalty and
organizational commitment through establishing the early warning mechanism about the dynamic
thinking of the core staffs; strengthening the building of culture and propaganda; building and perfecting
the talented incentive mechanism and attaching importance to career development and training. By
means of the work re-design, the companies can provide the core staffs with the broad, flexible space for
their development to stimulate the enthusiasm and passion of the key staffs for work, increase staff
satisfaction in the work and reduce and eliminate the recessive drain intention to the greatest degree, and
thus more improve the level of corporate human resource performance.
References
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