No other quarter in a financial year brings up emotions as starkly polarized as the first quarter. The first quarter has to do with appraisals, assessments, hikes and increments. On one hand, there is dissatisfaction and disappointment with what has happened, and on the other hand, there is satisfaction and well-being. Emotions are so polarized at a time like this, unless of course, you are middling somewhere in that area.
I was looking at some of the statistics online and Business Standard said last year that in 2011, the attrition rate in this quarter was 27% and they had predicted that it would go up in 2012 to 31% during this first quarter period of the financial year. Basically saying that IT attrition rate was 31%, Telecom was 26%, banking and financial services 23%, aviation and hospitality 22%, real estate 15% and FMCG 21% and so on. But that was the year 2012. It made me think that if we still go with a 4% or 5% increase, this year we are looking at a higher attrition rate of 32-36% during this quarter of the financial year.
This made me think about the uncertainties that surround each of you even on this call, depending on where you are on that continuum, whether you have got a good assessment, had a good appraisal or whether you have not. It always brings up the question, if you haven't, is it time for you to quit? The moment you think about quitting, it brings up a lot of uncertainty because it's not a very comfortable place to be. There are so many things that need to be taken into consideration.
So I thought this morning that I would throw out some guidelines that have been written by people who seem to know what they are writing about – whether or not it's time to go.
Bill Taylor writing for Harvard Business Review gives a couple of reasons why one would want to quit. Some of the things he says is,
1. Look at your company and ask the question – does my company stand for something – anything – special? Or is it just a run of the mill company with nothing that makes me excited about working for it?
2. Am I excited to see my colleagues when I show up for work on Monday morning? Are they a great group of people to work with, does it excite me as I step into my office everyday?
3. Do I have a voice at work – does anyone who matters listen to what I say? In today's age of participation and communication, if you feel that your opinion doesn't count, it can lead to a very depressing and demotivating feeling. Do I matter at all, does my voice have a say in the things that happen around here, or am I just somebody who comes and does some innocuous work?
4. Am I learning as fast as the world is changing? The most dangerous thing in anyone's career is the sense that you are standing still – that you're not learning, that you're not being challenged, that you're stuck.
I looked at those things and thought that this was one man's perspective and a good perspective to have. But how do you really know, how do you really differentiate between whether you are just a little bit dissatisfied with your job or whether there is genuine dissatisfaction, a genuine mismatch? I was looking at some of the experts on this.
Leonard Schleisinger, President of Babson College and co-author of the book 'Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create The Future.' He says, "What happens is that a lot of people get paralyzed by their unhappiness with the current reality. Once you get paralyzed, then you really can't think about moving, even though that's what you need to do."
Daniel Gulati, who has written another book 'Passion & Purpose; Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Leaders' says, "Most people stay too long in bad jobs when in effect, they should have really left a long time ago."
So what would be signals to watch for according to these gentlemen? They throw out a couple of things.
· Ask yourself – have you been promising yourself that you're going to quit but you never have? Gulati says, "If you've had these kind of false starts when you really have been thinking of quitting for some time now but haven't got to it, maybe it's the time to do something about it."
· Or you look at your boss' job and say – I'm not hungry for that. I don't want that. If that's your attitude in an organization, then the chances are that hungrier peers will soon pass you creating even more job dissatisfaction.
I was reminded about our Scriptures where the Almighty God says to us, "For I know the plans I have for you; they are plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
I thought that that's a good thing for us to land on in a period of uncertainty. To move or not is a big decision. Are you willing to take that risk to move forward? It is a risk because when you make a change like this, there's a possibility that you could land up in a wrong job, you could damage existing relationships, lose needed income, blemish your resume. Gulati adds to this, "Basically most people get 10 chances to quit a job in their lifetime, which works out to an average of changing your profile or your job every 4 years. If you do it more often than that, then companies begin to look at you as a kind of a serial job-hopper. That could hurt your professional reputation.
So how do you really know whether this is the time to move? Amy Gallo in an article in Harvard Business Review entitled 'Is It Time To Quit Your Job?' gives us 3 do's and 3 don'ts.
Do:
· Ask yourself whether the job can be done, whether you can do it, and if the costs of doing it are too high
· Run short experiments to test whether your current situation is unfixable. Is there something you can do it fix what is happening?
· Have some sense of what you want to do next before you quit. I think that is important. I remember reading a comment from somebody who said, "Think about quitting your job as the first step towards something and not just away from something. Have in mind what it is that you would like to do.
Don't:
· Stay if you don't want the job your boss or another superior is doing – you need to have a vision of what will come next
· Burn bridges no matter how dissatisfied you are – it could ruin your professional reputation
· Make quitting a habit – you'll blemish your resume.
I don't know where you on this call are; I don't know how these months are going, whether there's a sense of dissatisfaction that you've been struggling with. Is it the time to quit or not?
Caroline Ceniza-Levine writes, "The only reason to quit your job is this – you should quit your job when quitting is the next step to better life."
I hope that as you think about your own situation, as you look at all these statistics and ideas and advice that has been given by people in the profession, that you really focus on 3 things:
· Take a good realistic look at your life, at what's going on in your workplace. Make it realistic.
· Get help from other people. Get counsel, ask other people who know you, know what you are doing, whether indeed you are seeing things right, from the right perspective. Our Scriptures offer these words (Proverbs 15:22) "Without consultation plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed." Take the counsel of others. Proverbs 11:14 "Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors, there is victory."
· Know this, that the Almighty God has a plan for you. Our Scriptures say (Psalm 32:8) "I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you."
So in this period of uncertainty, if that's where you are, I hope and pray that what I've shared with you today will give you some kind of direction and some kind of solace and peace as you go through this quarter.
May I pray with you? Almighty God, on each one of these precious ones on this call, give your wisdom so that they would be able to make right choices and to be able to understand that you are in control of their lives. I pray that you would bring to their minds, good counselors, people of wisdom to speak into their situations and allow them to look realistically at what's going on in their lives. I pray that as a gift to them today and in the days ahead. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
• "India Inc May See Attrition Rates as High as 31%," http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/india-inc-may-see-attrition-rates-as-high-as-31-112050100097_1.html
• "For I know the plans I have for you...." Jer. 29:11
• Amy Gallo, "Is it Time to Quit Your Job?" http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2013/01/is-it-time-to-quit-your-job.html
• Bill Taylor, "How Do You Know it's Time to Go? Five Questions For the New Year." http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2008/01/how_do_you_know_when_its_time.html
• George Bradt, "Think about quitting your job as the first step towards something and not just away from something."
• Caroline Ceniza-Levine, "The Only Good Reason To Quit Your Job." http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/02/18/the-only-good-reason-to-quit-your-job/
• "Without consultation plans are frustrated..." Prov. 15:22
• "Where there is no guidance the people fall...." Prov. 11:14
• "I will instruct you and teach you...." Psalm 32:8
• Leonard Schleisinger, "Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future." (President of Babson College)
• Daniel Gulati, "Passion & Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Leaders."
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