How to Not Keep Employees

The irony is rich, a site dedicated to helping people looking to either find a new job, or recruit new talent, suggesting that people think about blocking LinkedIn on the office network because people might be using the site to look for a new job?

The amount of traffic to LSC from social medial sites is small compared to direct traffic and hits from banner ads or search engines, however the percentage from LinkedIn is much greater than it is from Facebook or Twitter.  Roughly 4% of our social media traffic comes from Twitter, around 12% from Facebook, and a whopping 84% comes from straight from LinkedIn. 

Could be an indication that many of those dedicated employees keeping up on all the professional development and marketing news on LinkedIn might just be looking for a new job?  Could going on LinkedIn at work be viewed the same as opening up the help wanted section of the newspaper at your desk?  It is definitely something to consider.

Yeah that will help. Of course, lots of people looking at LinkedIn might be looking for a new job. Some just want to be “out there” to see what sort of options are there with recruiters and such. Some are using it for lots of other reasons. If I was maybe only sort of keeping an eye on the job market, maybe to assess my own value when it comes time for a raise, and my employer blocked my access to it, I’d still have an iPhone to use during company time, and a home internet connection to use anytime I want, to actively look for another job at a place that wasn’t so short sighted!

I’ve got news for you. MOST of the people who work for you, are looking for a new job at any given time, even the ones who aren’t actively looking. The more you try to “own” them, by limiting their networking potential, hiding information about their true value, or somehow pretending that they owe you something, the MORE likely it is that they will leave. If someone opened the help wanted section of the newspaper in the office, is that an indication that you’re doing something wrong? You bet it is, but the mistake is not allowing them to have a newspaper. It goes much, much deeper than that. Unfortunately, many managers aren’t capable of thinking that deeply.

Full disclosure: I’ve switched jobs twice in just over a year, without ever actively looking for a new job. I was recruited, by people I’ve connected with in person, and on LinkedIn. I was open to being recruited because the new opportunity offered me something that my current job didn’t. It really was that simple. Not retaining me had nothing to do with blocking access, or controlling information that I had access to, or any other things you might think of. It had to do with the inability to match what they were offering me. (And it was not really about money, either. At least not completely.) Retention really is about finding a way to offer employees what they want. When you can’t offer it, good employees will eventually leave to get it. Trying to somehow control that dynamic, will only lead to unhappy, resentful, employees.

Guess what kinds of employees are the least productive? Great leadership there! 😉

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