The mistake of convincing an employee to stay once he has resigned rarely works in the long run. The employee caught us with our pants down. We need them more than they need us. The thought of having to replace the employee causes us to panic. After the shock, we begin to rationalize what we can do to keep him. The normal buy back is usually done with money, title, and promises. It is so often tempting to buy employees back. We are emotionally caught off guard. We think the worst of the situation, we wonder where we would begin to look to replace this key employee, how we would get his work done, who would know all of the intricate procedures and aspects of the job that he carries in his head. This fear drives us to protect ourselves by doing whatever we can to keep the employee. We try to rectify his concerns for the moment usually by emotional strokes, money and future.
THE BEST COMPANIES DON'T BUY BACK PEOPLE! It rarely works and within six months, the candidate is usually gone anyway. The major reason it doesn't work is that there is no longer a trustful relationship between the employee and the employer. The feeling of loyalty, commitment, and concern for common goals just isn't there anymore. The employee has gone out and found another job, communicating that he no longer thinks that his present situation is best for him. His loyalty and trust just aren't there. In short, he wants a "divorce" from the business situation.
Upon resigning, this type of employee knows that he has his employer over a barrel. He knows he has policies and procedures in his head. He knows that his experience and ability can be leveraged to his advantage. Even though he may not think of it, when an effort to buy him back is made, he takes advantage of it. He has now gotten more money, title etc. for what he was doing before. In short, he has just blackmailed his employer. Each party has solved his problem for the moment. The employer has, in spite of what he might think, merely put his finger in the dike. He has put a Band Aid the mammoth wound and thinks everything is fine. The employee on an ego high knows how much his employer needs him. Now he feels great and knows that things will work out. They are both WRONG!
Once the employer thinks objectively about what he has done to keep the employee, he begins to resent it and gets angry with himself for letting the employee do that to him. He feels blackmailed, leveraged, even cheated. He realizes when his employee came in to resign, the employee fired him and his company. This employee leveraged his position and the employer gave in. Now, to the employer's mind, the employee has the advantage. The employer is no longer in control; the employee is.
If the employer doesn't start thinking this way immediately after he buys an employee back, he will very soon. His immediate satisfaction is short lived, especially when he thinks about the word traveling and other employees will be encouraged to do the same thing. We know of an instance when a client of ours bought back an employee who was leaving. In the final analysis, three other employees tried the same thing once they saw that it worked. By the time the third one was emphatically let go because of what he was doing, the first two became fearful and subsequently left. The employer had created his own monster by letting it start in the first place.
Most employers will come to the conclusion that if the employee being bought back was worth what he is now being paid, he would have been paying him that to begin with. The employee is now under such scrutiny on the part of the employer his every function will be questioned and reevaluated. After the dust has settled, his employer resents what he has done and becomes evermore critical of his performance. The human flaws of the employee become more and more pronounced.
Money, Title…Temporary
The employee starts thinking about what happened. After the newness of the money, the title, and the new responsibilities wear off, he starts wondering why, if he is now worth this to his employer, wasn't he worth that before. He begins to resent all of the things he had to do to get his deserved raise, new title, etc. Does this mean that every time he wants (or needs) a raise, he will have to go out and find another job, get an offer, then come in and leverage it again? If they really respected him, he wouldn't have had to even consider finding a job to begin with. Most of the reasons why the candidate wanted to leave in the first place haven't changed. The cosmetic changes were fine for a while. The money, title etc. made him more tolerant of the situation but it was just too much trouble to get those. It is the same old company that didn't appreciate him until he was almost gone. Within six to nine months he leaves. Buy backs don't work! Good companies just don't attempt it.
