Turnover is trouble for any company when it is not controlled. To use a timely analogy, it is similar to a forest fire. A controlled burn clears out a section allowing it to be repopulated with fresh, new trees. An out-of-control fire can destroy an entire forest in a short amount of time.
Obviously, extreme turnover is typically a sign of a “churn-and-burn” organization. However, a small, controlled amount of turnover is valuable to an organization’s overall health. But what about a company with no turnover? Is it healthy?
This question is difficult to answer in a vacuum. Number of employees, company revenue, market trends, etc. all play into the equation. Yet, problems will arise when an employee who should be terminated is allowed to continue his or her employment.
CareerBuilder.com covers this topic in their article The Cost of Keeping a Bad Employee.
The majority of bad employees already know that they are not the best person for the job. Coming to work every day with this knowledge is frustrating and stressful. It is likely that this work related stress infiltrates the employee’s personal life. A manager who sincerely cares about the people he/she is managing must be willing to take action to help an employee move into a job where they can be a star player or good employee.
This sounds like an excellent tact to take with managers who have difficulty firing under-performers (especially sales managers). Often under-performing salespeople have the ultimate albatross hung around their neck – “They can’t sell.” Some can’t, but many can. The salesperson is simply in the wrong sale. As a manager, the best thing you can do is free them to pursue the right sale that fits their abilities.
Here is the greatest risk in retaining a bad employee (my emphasis):
When cancer enters the body, it spreads grows and spreads throughout if gone untreated. A bad employee can be like cancer within a company. Strong negativism, a poor attitude, backbiting, and incompetence can spread quickly within any organization. Co-workers of a bad employee notice the issues and typically try to fight off resist catching the negative traits. However, such traits are contagious and can severely hurt or even kill a company. A bad employee will eventually affect your employees, customers, and product/service’s quality.
Many people can relate to this truth. I suspect most have experienced a “cancerous coworker.” No team is worth putting at risk over a hesitancy to fire a bad employee. That statement sounds harsh, but there really is no option in that situation. Moving that employee to another department does not ensure the end of their effect. The best move is to clear the forest of the dead trees an allow new ones to grow in that place.