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Managing your company in an era of higher staff turnover and quiet quitting

As if managing employees through a major pandemic was not challenging enough, in the post-COVID era employers now face the twin challenges of “quiet quitting” and higher rates of actual quitting i.e. accelerated turnover.
geoffreyhoward

As if managing employees through a major pandemic was not challenging enough, in the post-COVID era employers now face the twin challenges of “quiet quitting” and higher rates of actual quitting i.e. accelerated turnover.

To be clear, quiet quitting is not actually quitting but instead doing only the minimum required in a job and focusing on one’s personal life. With many employees now working remote, full- or part-time, the opportunity for this to degenerate into not putting in a full day’s work is dramatically higher.

As for turnover, while Statistics Canada says overall resignation rates are not significantly higher, there is a “retirement” boom going on, driven by the growing numbers of older workers entering their 60s.

Some industries are facing higher turnover in all age brackets. According to a report from local tech industry HR association TAP Network quoted in BIV, turnover doubled to 19 per cent in the tech sector in 2021.

Combatting these challenges requires a comprehensive approach, including both carrots and sticks. From a legal perspective, what can employers do to minimize the prevalence of both of these trends?

Quelling quiet quitting: While employees cannot be required to “go the extra mile” for their employer, they can be expected to provide “a day’s work for a day’s pay.”

Monitoring compliance can be difficult with remote workers, but software, such as “keystroke monitoring” or monitoring volumes and frequency of email and other communications, is an option that is generally permissible. However, under the B.C. Personal Information Protection Act, private-sector employers can only engage in reasonable forms of surveillance and must give clear notice to employees of such monitoring. Constant or excessively intrusive monitoring in real time should be avoided.

Other steps to ensure the productivity of remote workers include setting “core hours” when employees must be available by phone and email and conducting regular random check-ins to ensure paid working hours are worked.

Deferring retirements: With fewer younger workers entering the workforce relative to those approaching traditional retirement age, employers need to be thinking about how to retain valued older workers who may be in a financial position to retire. Surveys show older workers are willing to stay on the job longer if they gain greater flexibility at work. This can take many forms but common options include:

•allowing increased work from home;

•granting additional paid vacation or even unpaid time off to allow for travel; and

•converting full-time demanding jobs into part-time jobs or consulting engagements.

Incentivizing retention and sanctioning early quits:

There are two main approaches here: “Carrots” such as signing or retention bonuses and “sticks” in the form of adverse consequences for leaving prematurely.

If you are planning to offer a signing bonus, as many U.S. employers do, make sure all or most of the bonus is payable only after the employee completes some minimum period of employment, such as a year. Consider requiring repayment of such bonuses if the employee quits or is fired for just cause within a year or two of receiving the bonus.

Where employees earn incentive pay, consider “vesting” – making some of the award payable over time.

Many employers invest substantial sums in hiring a new employee, ranging from paying a recruiter a placement fee, paying for a work permit application through to providing valuable (and portable) training and paying licensing or professional association fees. When the new hire leaves for a better offer within months, that cost has to be written off.

Where there are specific costs incurred to hire and train an employee, consider requiring the employee to sign an agreement to repay all or a pro-rated portion of these costs if the employee quits or is fired for just cause within a year or two of being hired. However, the B.C. Employment Standards Act (ESA) prohibits any arrangement that results in an employee being forced to pay an employer business cost. While this term is not defined, it is arguable that it may cover typical recruitment or training costs.

The ESA also bans any arrangement where an employee is forced to pay the cost of a recruiter, so requiring the early-departing employee to cover a recruiter’s fee is likely not permitted.

But other costs, such as payment of professional dues or licensing or the costs of obtaining other transferable qualifications, can be the subject of clawback.

Ultimately, these challenges may correct themselves if a recession increases unemployment and causes employees to be motivated to work harder and “job hop” less.

But in the meantime, the options above are worth considering to mitigate the twin challenges of quiet quitting and staff turnover.

The content of this column should not be considered legal advice. •

J. Geoffrey Howard ([email protected]) is the founder and principal of Howard Employment Law.