lobs change round hits firms' pockets
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1111 looks at the BIM's Checklist No 8. .
1ESE past two years have obably seen a greater turnover labour than any year since the e Forties. Disenchanted with rements awarded under the y Code, employees in firms of sizes have packed their bags d moved to a new employer, ten no more than a stone's row away, for an increase itside the Government's iidelines.
There is evidence in plenty at not all of the changes have ien made by young, impatient id ambitious school leavers or aduates. Many long-service nployees have been compel1 to move on just to.keep pace th inflation.
Breaking service after years employment carries serious ng-term financial implications. itially it means that holiday tcl sickness qualifying periods ?gin again. Promotion niority is eliminated and the timate staff pension entitleent is eroded. All this is quite )art from immediate personal insiderations.
From the company's point of ew, labour movement means any different things.
The perfect replacement )es not exist; a new employee 3S always something to learn
experience cannot be urchased. So at best the nployer has to pay the same !muneration to a new and often ir less experienced person that ad been paid to the newly dearted long-service employee. This is a matter which is ccupying the minds of the 'embers of the British Institute f Management. It is the subject I a new pamphlet which BIM as just released,
Checklist 8, Filling a Vacancy oses 41 questions under three 'b-headings, all of them per
tinent. Some questions at first sight may appear facile, but where this impression is given, invariably another question is posed by the reader.
Take question 1 under "What are you looking for?" It is the seemingly simple question "Why is there a vacancy?" Because someone left. The question why can be applied to the reason for this employee leaving and so on.
Under this first heading there are 11 check questions which should lead the employer to the ideal man. If such exists.
The second section asks that very question. Does he exist? There is a suggestion that his availability might be seasonal, but on the assumption that he can be found, what can he be paid? And why should he want to join you? Why indeed?
Under the third heading many of the questions could be regarded as a self analysis of the employer. It dares to suggest that the replacements might already be in the company's employment; it often is the case.
Advertisement technique is examined, and here undoubtedly is where many vacancy fillers fail. A good operator is not always seldom is perhaps a more appropriate word a good advertisement copywriter. Advertisement agencies usually do it better and BIM suggests that they be used.
There is an enormous amount of time and energy put into vacancy filling by senior management. The BIM has converted the time and effort factor into financial terms, and its findings are sobering evidence of the cost of movement.
Samples of staff movement costs in the checklist show sums. varying from £500 a year to £120,000. Figures in the middle of the scale are possibly most applicable to the haulage industry where the largest proportion of companies operate less than five vehicles.
Take as an example a fivevehicle company with an annual wage and salary bill of not more than £50,000. If one person leaves, the cost of replacement, says BIM, will be £1,500. By giving the drivers another £200 each the operator would save £500 and retain his staff.
If two people leave the same company the cost rises to exactly double. The same £200 increase would probably be enough to keep them all: the saving would be proportionately greater.
One example given to CM was of a staff turnover of 40 per cent on a salaries and wages bill of £100,000. The costs to fill the eight vacancies would ex
ceed £40,000. The figures apply to a staff of 19.
While this illustration might appear to highlight a criminal waste of company funds, BIM says that turnover can range from 20 per cent to 200 per cent.
These figures represent the Tth.
cost where the vacancy is being filled quickly by the best method and resulting in the best applicant being appointed. It must therefore follow that less suc-, cessful methods will cost much more.
There may well have been a short-term case to have been made out for the Pay Code guidelines, but if BIM's calculations are correct has the Social Contract been the success its supporters claim for it?
• In the light of these figures can the Social Contract still find champions?
Management too might well blush from behind the protection screen of the contract. Those who have lost the services of experienced staff because they sheltered behind this nonmandatory "legislation" may now sit down and count the cost.
Members of BIM can obtain checklist No 8 for 20 pence from BIM Management House, Parker Street, London WC2B 5PT.