Silent but Obvious Exodus

 

Green Finance Corporation is a company that engages in business-to-business loan transactions. The company has existed for over 100 years. Over the years, it has grown to have 500 employees. It has three departments: Administration, Accounting, and Sales. The Administration Department takes charge of all operations and is headed by the COO (Chief Operations Officer), Isabella Chen. This department is responsible for planning and development. All policies are developed by this department as well. The Accounting Department, on the other hand, takes charge of bookkeeping, tax preparations, and all other financial aspects of the company. It is managed by the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Victor Harrington. The Sales Department, on the other hand, takes charge of marketing and sales operations. It is headed by the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Evelyn Sinclair, since she has experience and expertise in marketing. 

For five years, the company has experienced turnover rates of over 10% annually. This is not ideal by industry standards. The president, Nathan Reynolds, met with the department heads to discuss and determine why this high turnover rate occurred. They came up with the conclusion that remuneration is not as competitive as that of other companies in the same line of business. While their salary rate is above the minimum required rate by 5%, exit interviews indicate that this is small and unattractive to the employees. Furthermore, they had no career path and no concrete plan for employee retention. Apart from exit interviews, the Letter of Intent that employees fill out every end of the fiscal year indicates that the reasons for those who resigned are personal, and they’ve chosen not to disclose them. But the silence spoke volumes—the unspoken grievances, the stifled dreams, and the weight of secrets. When these resigned employees are casually talking with their colleagues, they speak of burnout and discouragement because of their bosses. The top two departments with largest turnover rate are the Administration and Accounting Departments. 

Ex-employees of the Accounting Department always recall Mr. Harrington in the realm of numbers, formulas, and merciless scrutiny. His office resembles a sterile laboratory, devoid of warmth. When quarterly reports disappoint, he summons the culprits to his lair. There, he dissects their mistakes with surgical precision. “Your expense claims? Extravagant!” he declares, waving printouts like a scalpel. The accused employees squirm, their self-esteem hemorrhaging. While this is the case, the employees’ salaries stagnate, their dreams of career advancements deferred indefinitely. Furthermore, he has been very strict in approving budget requests and this was all due to his trust issues due to past events. He often overlooks the justifications attached in the requests and just outright disapproves them.

In the Administration Department on the other hand, Ms. Chen's office clock is her confidante. It ticks methodically, measuring productivity in seconds. She patrols the office, clipboard in hand, noting late arrivals, extended lunches, and unauthorized breaks. Her booming voice echoes through the adjacent offices, and her presence alone can send shivers down spines. When someone commits a mistake, she doesn’t hesitate to unleash her wrath. Public humiliation is her weapon of choice.

In the Sales Department, apart from having commissions, they further create practices within the company where they get more income than the rest of the employees. This department has the least employee turnover rate, but they engage in questionable transactions, directly communicating with clients and getting personal cuts for closed deals. Employees in this department do not come on time, and are always posting pictures of themselves going out for leisure in social media platforms. Everyone here also do not communicate using official channels and are fond of using informal communication. To make matters worse, their department head condones such behavior and often does these things first.

All other employees who remain in the company keep these things to themselves and would not tell any of the heads or leaders because they only get scolded or, worse, humiliated. Thus, there is a repeating pattern of silent but obvious exodus. One member of senior management noticed this and tried to think of solutions before the company crumbled. He has direct access to the board of directors and is looking to ultimately solve this problem, of course, with the help of a consultant who is an expert in human behavior in organizations.

Silent but Obvious Exodus © 2024 by Eric John Emberda is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0